The sun was just beginning to trickle it's rays through the clouds and into our bedroom window this morning when I awoke to "Mommy! Mommy!"I slowly and groggily turned toward the voice, halfway opened one still-sleepy eye, and saw a little head bobbing up and down beside me. "shhhhhh", I said, "You'll wake Astrid".
"Mommy!" exclaimed my eldest as he bounced and danced beside me, "I'm SIX today!!! Now can I open my presents?!?"
"Sure Buddy", I answered, "and Happy Birthday."
As he ripped through the paper on the the gifts I had so carefully wrapped, his eyes shone with the excitement only a child can muster. I thought back over the years since his birth. The joy he has brought to our lives is immeasurable. He is so full of laughter, wonder, mischief, joy, curiosity, determintation....life. And now he's six. Just yesterday he was born (that's in Mommy Memory years...the most nostalgic sort of all) and today he's one third of the way to adulthood. I remember when Granni used to say how fast time went by and how it seemed, from my childlike perspective, that 2 hours might as well have been an eternity. Now, I have this vision of myself chasing the years as they sprint by me, carrying my little boy on their shoulders.
"Mom, do you miss your baby Ethan?" he asked me.
"Yes, I miss my baby Ethan," I answered honestly, "but I love my big Ethan so much that it makes up for any missing I might be doing."
Around my children's birthdays I often find myself unable to resist staring at them, holding them, feeling their soft skin, and even smelling their tiny heads, forcing my brain to take note, and remember. Remember in a way that it will never forget so that when these years are gone and Ethan's kisses and "I love you's" are not so plentiful, Julia's expressions are not so uninhibited, Asa's musical laughter does not come so easily, and Astrid's rosy lips do not smell like sweet milk and sunshine, I can close my eyes and see, hear, feel, and smell these things all over again. And, for a moment, relive these most precious moments and memories of my little ones' childhoods.
Today I put some kid music on the stereo in the car. Ethan (in his biggest 6 year old voice) proceeded to annouce that he "hates this music.""Son," I scolded, "just because you're six now that doesn't mean that you can start talking like that."
"But, it's ok if I say 'hate' Mom."
"It just doesn't sound nice," I explained, "so it's not ok with me."
"Well, it will be ok for me to say 'hate' when I'm thirty!" he announced.
Four more things Ethan plans to do when he's 30:
1. Get his own house and watch Spongebob (because he's not allowed to in our house)
2. Enjoy football games
3. Buy the house next door to Mommy and Daddy
4. Have kids so they can sit in the backseat and he doesn't have to anymore
2 comments:
I remember well the day you were born. Your mother wanted to go home (about six hours into an extended labor) but I insisted she stay and actually finish the birthing process. There were dozens of people waiting for you to be born. And that was just last night, wasn't it? And now it has been almost thirty years (uh-huh) and you are still a little girl. One that has four children of her own, of course, but you are still a little girl. Enjoy every moment with the little ones. The time really does fly. I know, because my babies are getting older every day, and I will have three grandchildren come February.
Have a blessed celebration of Jesus' birth.
Aunt Brenda
Happy Birthday Ethan! We love you very much and we hope that Ian grows up to be the same sweet, caring, and curious little boy that you! It seems like just yesterday your Mommy and Daddy were telling us that you were on the way!
Emily and Justin you both are such an example to us with your parenting. We often find ourselves saying "Justin and Emily" phrases when we talk to Ian.
We love you and you better move soon :-)
Post a Comment