When Patrick Kane scored the winning goal in overtime June 9, I heard a whoop from the kitchen, where Frank and one of his friends were watching the game. The Blackhawks had won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 49 years — the first time since before I was born. Frank has been living and dying with the Blackhawks all year, going to games, watching on TV, even listening on the radio. He got to play on the United Center ice with his squirt hockey team, and got his sweater autographed by Patrick Sharp. It’s all different from the news last summer, when Patrick Kane was arrested after an altercation with a cabdriver. Then Frank was disappointed; to him, the players were heroes, and he had a hard time understanding that they make mistakes like everyone else. But it didn’t stop him from following the team, and cheering wildly when Kane put an end to the 2009-2010 hockey season and kicked off a celebration in which the ticker tape fell like red snow. Kane, no doubt, has grown up a lot in the last year, learning that whatever he does will be watched. Not that he would want to trade places, but he doesn’t have the level of anonymity that most young people have while they figure out how to behave. Neither does Jonathan Toews, the 22-year-old “Captain Serious,” who seems to have been born knowing how to conduct himself with dignity. Frank has also grown up in the last year, learning that all people are human, that no one is perfect, but it’s still fun to watch them play hockey. He and Caroline have had a lot to cope with over the last year. A new sister is wonderful, but having a baby in the family means big changes. They have both shown an impressive maturity in adjusting to new realities. How many 9-year-old boys, when asked to bring a diaper, comes back with a diaper, a cloth to lay the baby on, and a box of wipes to clean her up with? Caroline has changed a diaper or two, and is the first to let us know if Teresa has awakened. Hockey starts again in October, and the elation of winning the Stanley Cup will only be a memory. The Blackhawks will have to start all over again. Caroline and Frank will keep growing up, as will the young Blackhawks. They weren’t there on June 11 when the victory parade took over downtown — Frank seemed to think it would be too hot, with too many people, and he was probably right. He’s already wise beyond his years.