Harper at 2,190 days old

“It’s my birthday!” Harper announced in our bedroom at 2 AM.

Today Harper turns 6. And you gotta respect her enthusiasm for the day and for life in general. A month from now, I’ll be 36 (I’m Harper +30), and I’ll want to sleep in on my birthday

But I’m younger now than I was before she arrived.

I read children’s books about talking animals and magic. We’re also making our way through the Harry Potter series.

I color, still not very well. There is something really meditative about it.

We pick on Annie together.

We crack toot jokes more than we should.

We play hide and seek and tag.

We go on bike rides.

We giggle.

We sing duets from Frozen.

We have dance parties.

We play video games. About a year ago we started playing Lego Star Wars on PlayStation 2, our most up-to-date game system, which I’ve had since 2000. In 2000, I had time for games. But then I graduated college and started working, traveling, and writing. Although I wanted to play games, I didn’t. Games were for kids and I had things to do.

Harper got a Wii U for Christmas. Yesterday I went to the video game store to buy Lego Harry Potter and the clerk caught me up on 15 years of gaming technology and trends.

As Harper lives her childhood, I get to be a kid again.

Yet each year marks the passing of another 365 days of childhood. I can go from 0 to sappy in like a millisecond, but I don’t want to wish for her to freeze in time like some creepy Anne Rice baby vampire. Because watching her grow up is an amazing experience.

Yesterday, Harper’s brother Griffin, 3, fell asleep in Annie’s lap. Harper asked Annie if she could hold him while he slept. (Annie captured the moment in the picture above.) Harper has also started to put Griffin to bed on occasion. Griffin is a special little man who is going to need a big sister to look after him. He’s lucky to have Harper.

She keeps me young and she makes me look forward to watching her grow up.