he's ten.

after spending a day with my second,
i am reminded that... he's still my baby.

sweet, freckled, noise makin', always right, active, little guy.
and
i love this kid.
when i was younger and carried around baby dolls pretending to be a mommy...
this is what i wanted.
this feeling of he's great and he's mine...

i've invested a lot of time and energy and patience and prayer into this kid.
and, he is becoming.  without me.  because of me.  and in spite of me.

on his birthday he caught 3 fish.
remember, that was his summer goal?
my trick-- take my family to the park and just watch as they make friends with the fisherman.

on his birthday he invited a friend on his mom-date.
we saw how to train a dragon- at the dollar movies.
he loved it.
he got gummy worms and a slushie.
he has never gotten a snack and a drink at the movies before.  never.
oh how his life would have been different in another family.
during the whole movie he kept offering me sips.
"you can have as much as you want mom" he must have whispered 10 times.
sweet boy.
we went to fuddruckers for dinner.
the world's greatest burgers.
(because i couldn't do completely fast food or mac n cheese from a box.)
all 3 of us got a kids meal.  drew got a shake with NO whipped cream.

he still hates whipped cream.  (??!!)
the boys played for 20 minutes with their 25 cent ninja guys from the gumball machines.
they talked about their little sisters.
"my sister bites everyone" drew's friend said.
"Yeah, well, you should see my sister.  She can beat up a 6 year old." drew matched.
(huh?!  too funny.)

on his birthday it started to storm.
we were driving home, we rolled down the windows and got wet.
drew and i laughed, his 10 year old friend said, "come on guys, you're scaring me."
after dropping off his friend, we ran inside and changed into pajamas.
i jumped on my bed and pulled a quilt around me to listen to the storm.
drew climbed in with me.
he spent 20 minutes telling me about the super powers his ninjas had.
then, he asked if i wanted one.
sweet, sweet boy.
i love that kid.
i love 10.
growing, but still young.

on his birthday i remembered the little guy.
i saw the growing boy.
and i celebrated the time we have together.
thanks drew.
you are joy.