Me: Today is your first day of kindergarten!!

Ira: Mom, I'm five today.

Me: You want to be five today, but you're still four. Hey, you can be four and still be in kindergarten. You'll be five soon.

Ira: [Eyes welling up, voice so tiny] But dad said I'd be five next time.

Me: Oh, tiny! You'll be five on your birthday, not today! You know, around Halloween time! When we see pumpkins in the grocery stores.

Ira: WAHHHHH!!!! I am five!!

This kid so very badly wants to be five, with all of the might of his precious heart. He sometimes gets so insistent that he is five and the conversations usually go like this. It just breaks my heart. Soon enough, kid.