A Sappy Birthday Post. (belated!)

My boy Michael turns 11 today. ELEVEN! How did that happen? (ok, so actually that happened a few months ago and I just never got pictures added to post this! ack.)

It was different with one child! I spent all day everyday loving on him. Why set him down? Why not read the book 500 times. We walked and talked and looked and learned! He was squishy and sweet and gentle, even as a toddler. I'll never forget the look in his eye when he realized I loved Jane and that she was staying. I was changing her diaper and cooing at her and I looked up to see him staring at me. It wasn't sad or jealous, more like, "Oh. We love her. Ok!" He has been an incredible big brother ever since. Every child should have a big brother like Michael!

When Janey was just a baby Michael kissed her head-- in that sweet little spot where I'd stuck a honey bow. He then licked her head! He looked at me like "She's cute and she tastes good?!"

When Michael was about 3 he grabbed a handful of blossoms off a tree and shoved them in his mouth before I could stop him. He then spit them out and shrieked, "It isn't really so!" We think of that story a lot this time of year with the popcorn trees in full bloom :)

Michael is awesome. I wish you all knew him. He is sensitive, trustworthy, honest, and funny! Lately I've been enjoying his developing sense of humor. He and Dave were teasing me about taking one of my really nasty old pizza pans to the Antique Roadshow. He had such funny lines! It is fun to see him "becoming".

He is also really really smart. I have recently realized that when he tells me things that are totally new to me, I don't doubt what he is saying. Camels can hold 10 gallons of water? Ok. That is how that seldom told Old Testament story played out? Ok. A computer does blah blah blah... Ok. He has a fantastic memory too. Lucky boy! Michael will be competing this Saturday at the District Spelling Bee. His school Bee was INTENSE! All of the kids were terrific spellers, battling down with words like flamboyant, vacuum, recommend, exquisite, scholastically, kaleidoscope!!! More than once I thought "Dang, he's wrong! Well, he did awesome!" Just to have the judge say he'd gotten it right! Oops, I better step up my spelling practice.

He recently earned his Webelo and his Arrow of Light award, then crossed over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. It was fun and we felt so proud of him! Dad and Bev were here that night and it was so fun to watch him go from all those squirrelly young boys in blue shirts on one side to those tall, confident guys in brown shirts on the other side of the "bridge".
Last week he and I spent over an hour playing trombone/piano duets. I thought to myself "Hey, this "having kids grow up thing" might not be so bad..." Michael is wonderful. He is just the kind of boy you'd want as your first born, we are lucky to be his parents!