The Latest... and Greatest

Hello, dear friends.  We haven't spoken in a while and I miss that.

So, the latest news on the block is that Elliott ("I have a lot of names, Mom!")-- sorry, I mean Elliott/Mr. Incredible/Kung Fu Panda...etc.,-- is officially a man.  He turned four years old (four years old!) on January 18th.  We had a blow out party complete with a Mr. Incredible bounce house (surprisingly affordable contrary to popular belief), build your own taco salad bar, massive amount of presents, friends, cupcakes, cake, cookies, freshly squeezed lemonade from the tree out back, and a home-made pinata built to look like the omnidroid robot from The Incredibles movie.

Photos by David

You know how people always jokingly ask you on your birthday if you feel any older?  Well, it seems as though as soon as Elliott turned four, he was totally different.  I feel as though my little son is already almost fully grown and about to leave home.  It feels scary like it is merely a day or two away that my little baby will be all grown up.  I have just been watching and cherishing everything about him and everything that he does since the day he turned four.  In the morning as we were lying (laying?) in bed together watching the sunbeams just start to smile through the blinds the other day, I saw his little smoothly pale baby legs all curled up in a ball and I thought, in no time flat those adorable little boy legs are going to be big, hairy, man legs!  It is so weird to think that someday I will be the mother of a grown man...  How can that be?  I can see it in the way he acts and talks with me that I am his mother.  He's just starting out and has his whole life ahead of him and its all about him--and my life is all about him.  Its weird how kids act like that without knowing it: as a child you just automatically expect your parents to be so very interested in everything you do and to be totally invested in you.  And that expectation continues for the rest of your life, I think.  It is so weird to think that I have someone expecting me and my life to center around him.  How did that happen?  Or when did my life go from being all about me to being all about him?  The transition feels so seamless.

I was walking downtown last week, with Caiden on one hip/arm--along with my bag--and I took Elliott's hand on the other side of me to cross the street.  We had about 3 blocks more to walk towards our destination and usually after we cross an intersection Elliott will impatiently pull his hand out of mine.  But on this particular day and after all of my aforementioned contemplations, he just kept his sweet little hand in mine and was content to walk along with me by his side--all. three. blocks: holding my hand!  Boy, I tell ya, my other arm--which was toting my ten pound bag and twenty pound daughter--felt like it was ready to fall off!  But I just kept holding Elliott's hand like it was heaven itself.  Because my heart was aching even more than my arm, thinking that this sweet time with him is so very fleeting.  Oh, how I love my boy!



***If you would like to experience a more detailed photographic account of the birthday activities, please view my MobileMe Gallery here.