Aidan, you are six today and I can’t be more proud of you. Not proud because you turned six healthy and happy – this is a relief – but because of who you are. At some point in the past year you became a boy and the event almost slipped by without my noticing. But I did notice, the way your body folds on the bed is now longer and slightly awkward, the way you tolerate Lydia when she’s fussy vs. whacking her up side the head, the way you sit down and diligently do your homework, the way you likewise work to assemble your legos, the way understand when ask for more and when to ask for less. There have been other changes too, of course. You’ve had a few tough stretches at school where the bigger kids picked on you (your father can relate) and you came home with scratches and bruises. But you have adjusted to it and have improved your kicking skill. You’ve even adjusted your story a few times about what happens at school which means you are beginning to lie and discover what us other humans can detect. Keep in mind the two principles about lying that I’ve already told you. First, never lie to your family. Second, only lie about something important. When you are mad you bend your head and storm out of the room, not making a sound. You don’t get mad very often, and less often as the year passed, but when you do it is mostly because me or mom said we were going to do something we didn’t do. Like buy you a toy. At some point during the past year you stopped taking naps but you did start getting scared at night. Right now you wake up most nights and say in “very scared” in Chinese. I don’t so much raise you as I observe you and do everything I can to make sure that the part of you that is your essence does not get stepped on and recedes. Because your essence is so beautiful and uniquely you. It is in everything you do. When you cry when I leave on a business trip, when you beam with pride when you assemble a bionicle, when you run with joy chasing me, when you talk endlessly with your sister explaining what is real and what isn’t, when your voice is always too loud for a restaurant and you lower when i ask. Lower it for a good syllable or two. Your essence shines through in the photos of you, from day one to today. 
Here you are on the day you were born and at your first birthday party.
Here you are, at two and three. Two was your first birthday in China.
Here you are at four and five. Five being the year of the Wii.
And today, one moment posing the next caught off guard. When you turned one, you had two birthdays. One in Beijing and then one in Fremont. The wonders of multi-time zone air travel. And such it is today. We just finished having ice cream at the Beijing airport, you enjoying the strange combination of red sherbet and rich chocolate. Me breaking my no sweet fast to join you. Lydia giggling with her mango cone, Yang the proud mom of three already plotting the next move. As I left you at the airport and headed to the gate I was listening to a song by Jack Johnson called All at Once and he sang “all at once the world can overwhelm you….i want to take the preconceived out from underneath your feet…we could shake it off and instead plants some seeds….we’ll watch them as they grow and with each new beat from your heart the roots grow deeper the branches will reach for..what? Nobody really knows.” And I’ll leave you with that for today. My boy, Aidan, with whom I share a heart and a soul and branches that reach.