Happy Jack, It's Your Birthday!

How and when did my little New Year's Baby become SEVEN? I took this photo in our LA apartment, the one with the greatest light ever. Jack's always been such a happy guy. (A story for another time...this is one of the photos that landed baby Jack an agent! It was LA after all. How funny is that?)

Ever since he could, Jack would immerse himself in his involved world of imagination. It started by playing Matchbox cars with my dad when he was about one. He would just drive them around forever, making noises, imagining. Then he got into construction trucks and we'd sit forever watching the action all around our LA neighborhood. Along came trains and that one was huge. The layouts of Brio track were infinitely more complex, the couplings of his trains intensely calculated. We've done dinosaurs, Rescue Heroes, Thunderbirds, Star Wars, Astro Boy, Bionicles, and now (ack) Pokemon. But the cool thing about Jack is that no matter what he's "into" he makes it completely his own. His capacity to create with play knows no bounds. His toys are vehicles for his imagination. The entire day is an adventure for his mind. Very often we have to "call him back" to our world, only to have him slip away mere minutes later. You could put the kid in a bare room with two sticks and he's be content for a good hour, at least.

Along with that divine imagination, he's just a great guy. He's a responsible boy, a dutiful big brother, funny, loving and kind. He's built of pure muscle, can get a soccer ball past me with his eyes closed, and is the pickiest eater I have ever known, but he makes up for that by being the best snuggler on the planet. Happy Birthday, Moondoggie. You'll always be my Baby New Year.