Jack turns seven today.

Although he is seven, he surprises me with the range of ages he actually is. That in one moment he can be very mature, the only one who can talk Ben down when he’s upset and then a few moments later he can ask for a Thomas the Train toy for his birthday.

This year he started to become quite a good soccer player. He was always naturally athletic, but these days he’s scoring goals every class and doing naturally what little boy athletes do afterwards, bragging innocently then shoving his stinky shin guard in my face and telling me to smell it.

This year he started to read too. Not just identify a few words, but he can actually read a few simple books.

He has become a much better student, too. His competitive nature keeps him striving all the time. But this year he seems to have found his rhythm. Sometimes I find him explaining to me how his homework should be done!

He also conquered a lot of fears. This year we noticed how much he finds the most daring, stomach wrenching ride or slide fun instead of scary.

Although he enjoys his computer and iPad games, he still hasn’t reach the stage where he is a video game junkie. He can spend a surprising amount of time building lego vehicles. And any random day he could decide to come home and put on his ultimate spiderman costume just to walk around the house. The time I love best is when he plays with his younger siblings. Making up races in the house or just starting a random dance party by playing “Dynamite” or “Gangham Style” through my iPhone or iPad. I think Adam’s favorite time is their nightly reading of the Harry Potter books.

I would describe his clothing style as rapper with a higher waist – track pants and long or short sleeve tops.

His request for dinner and dessert tonight was pizza, sushi and raspberry cheesecake. He is the very product of Chicago, Judaism and Asia.