I think he was born about 8:30 pm, and I told him that, so he was careful not to call himself five years old until after then. Where in the world did he get such an affection for precision? Heh.
He asked for a Sci-Quest party and Kung Fu Panda swag, and Mom valiantly delivered. (The Kung Fu Panda napkins and plates were harder to score than you might think.) After a cool presentation of fire experiments, he and his buddies got to make slime:
I’m so proud of Aaron—of both of our boys—that I just can’t believe it sometimes. (Have I ever in my whole damned life written anything triter? Well, that’s how I feel.) I was telling Lea tonight that I hope we succeed in enabling them to hang onto the sweetness at their cores—and there really is a lot of it—as they harden to the degree necessary to effectively handle the realities of the world.
Forced this night to name the single greatest parenting challenge I see before us, that’s what I’d say. I’m neither naive enough to ignore the possibility that my answer will be different in a year, nor oblivious enough to miss how blessed we are that such an esoteric question heads the list.
Happy Birthday, Aaron! I love you, buddy.
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Every time you post pics of your boys the first word that comes to mind is sweetness. I hope they stay sweet forever for you and Lea, but I work with middle schoolers so I cannot help but snort very loudly.
Happy B-Day, Aaron!
Thank you, cajunvegan. I’m sure your snorts will eventually be justified. All we can do is hope whatever justifies them is recoverable. 🙂
Thanks. They really are good boys. I need to remember to appreciate that sweet attitude now.
The other day at a church function I was telling a mother of a young teen how nice she was. The mother snorted, rolled her eyes and said something about her daughter’s “smart mouth” and attitude. I have always heard you should measure how good a child is by how they behave with *other* adults. So, I told her that and that her daughter was always very nice when she was around me. Since the boys are going to inherit big streaks of sarcasm and stubborness from their parents, I guess the only hope we have is that they are well-behaved around other adults and don’t do anything too stupid with their peers.