Nine

Z was a big squishy baby. Somehow, in the intervening years he has stretched and stretched and is now this long tall boy with no end in sight to the growing.














Just a year ago, he was getting baptized and so anxious to be a cub scout.



Also around that time, he started to evolve into the kindest boy ever. He's always been tender-hearted, but now he is developing some social skills to act on those tender feelings. For example, for birthdays, we have always sent doughnuts or some other school approved treat to school for the class. This year, when I asked Z's teacher how many to send, he told me that was a moving target since they have received an additional child each day of school since opening. So, I sent some extra doughnuts to be on the safe side. After the birthday school day ended and Z and CW came home from school, CW was angry because there were no extra doughnuts. Z said, yes there were but I gave them to the janitors to eat instead of saving them for later. Wow. Z is learning to be a delightful gentleman and is quick to express gratitude for things done on his behalf. He chose this simple cake this year because he said he didn't want to make extra work for me!













This year is quickly filling with new interests and new ways in which this man child of mine spreads his wings, tests and tries his testosterone and chooses which activities will describe him. There's swim, and now there's football: he's so very excited to play on his first flag football. We'll see how excited he is after the first game.









Regardless, I can't help but get the impression that this kid is going to continue to blow me away, more and more with each passing year. Nine seems like so many years away from that squishy baby, but it's really only the beginning. Blow away, dear boy, blow away!