Don’t Blink. {Click the link to hear a great song with a great message!! I happen to love the video as well…so very retro feeling!} Don’t blink or that little one you remember so vividly going into labor with and so openly welcoming into your heart and home forever will suddenly, somehow, look like this…a handsome, sweet, thoughtful, loving kid! The little guy that made me a mom nearly five years ago is growing up all too fast. All too fast.
Sitting here now I can hardly believe that my baby is growing up so incredibly quickly. I can hardly believe that his first year of preschool is coming to a close. I can hardly believe that we have started talking about ideas for his fifth birthday. I can hardly believe that the jaundiced little being we brought home from the hospital has grown up so, well, fast! Apparently I blinked somewhere along the line and now my little man is almost five years old!!
I love him with all of my heart and then some. By nature he is about as laid back and go with the flow as they come. His funny side is starting to show itself more and more and this little nugget makes me laugh out loud on a daily basis!! His silly jokes, his little antics. He always has “great ideas” and something “really important” to share with us.
But mixed in with the sweetness and giggles he brings, the last few weeks Huntler has been, ummm, slightly more challening than normal. I am sure it is just a phase…we have gone through this before. But I am more than ready to have the real him back 24/7. It’s nothing major…just typical kid stuff of acting out, yelling, throwing fits, stomping and just being ornery. But it is exhausting! He also does NOT want to cooperate for pictures nearly as often these days…and that is why you don’t see his sweet smile nearly as much as you do Gentry’s! I am sure it won’t be long and she’ll be entering a phase where she doesn’t want to sit still or smile for me either!
You’ll have to excuse my hodge podge of pictures here! I am including a little bit of everything it seems!! I am not sure where the time has gone the last few weeks but I am managing to keep quite busy!! Here are a few from our trip to California back in March. You may remember that ALL Huntler wanted to do was build sandcastles like Max and Ruby…well friends, he did just that!
And here is just another random one I took awhile back! Funny story though…Huntler was sitting on a little bar underneath the swing set and I made him sit there for a couple of minutes while I was messing with my settings trying to take some pics! I never did get them quite right and this image seems a bit “off” to me, but I love the moment and the smile it brings to my face when I see it! Anyway, Huntler somehow lost his balance and flipped over backwards on the bar but his knees stayed hooked! The crazy part is, he then slid on his stomach in some weird way between the bar and the wood and found himself in the sandbox! I burst out laughing and we sat there and giggled and giggled about his “trick!” He was quite proud of himself!
Sweet Huntler,
As Mother’s Day approaches and I think about the tea party I am having with you tomorrow at school in honor of the day, I couldn’t be more grateful and thankful to have you. You are, quite simply, an amazing little guy. Sure, you have your moments {we all do!!}, but I can honestly say that we could not have been blessed with anyone better to call our son than you.
Your dark, mysterious brown eyes that take the world in bit by bit. Your spiky, strawberry blonde hair that fits you perfectly! The curiosity and wonder. You are changing so much each and every week. You are growing up, little man, you are growing up. The selfish part of me so desperately wants to stop time, to keep you just as you are today…to forever have a sweet boy who loves to snuggle up beside me and watch TV or read books. The sweet boy who knows how to push my buttons but the second I run into something or hurt myself comes running to make sure I am okay. The sweet boy with such a sensitive spirit.
Just this morning you were talking about going to kindergarten. I had to remind you that you’ll be in preschool another year and your little heart broke when you realized two of your best school buddies would be leaving you behind as they start kindergarten in the fall. My heart broke right along with yours as I watched you, face puckered but so determined to fight off the tears. I know with every fiber of my being how hard it is to watch friends move on…or to be the friend moving on when you so desperately want to do anything but. I know how hard the goodbyes are, how sad you are left and how you are forever changed because of it. I wish more than anything I could protect you from this, but no matter how much I wish I could, I can’t. But I can be there to pick up the pieces. To remind you that the really cool thing about ending one grade and starting another is that you keep your old friends and you make new ones along the way…much like the journey of life. My heart is filled with happiness when I think of the love you have for your friends. I hope that Daddy and I have taught you at least a little bit about what is truly important in life…and friendships are most certainly one of them.
There are so, so, so many things I love about you. The way your rifle through your underwear drawer each morning to find the perfect pair of Thomas undies for the day. The way you carry a train or two or three everywhere we go. The way you want to take something to Show and Tell EVERY SINGLE DAY. The way you require us to spell random words for you more times a day than I can count! The way you are still so completely obsessed with Thomas the Train and have yet to discover the world of toys less innocent. The way you talk about “Tansas” and our family and friends there. The way you build and rebuild and build again track formations. The way you add an “-ed” to the end of words…such as, “Can we read-ed a story tonight?” Or, “I just drop-ed the bucket.” You are learning so much at school and I can tell you can’t learn fast enough! You are constantly trying to figure things out and put what you learned into practice. I hope you never lose your desire to learn and grow.
Huntler, as the tears stream down my face right here and right now, I am watching you nap just across the room. You are covered up with your favorite two blue “b’s” and your Thomas sheet. Your puppy is at your side, as is a fire truck and a chip clip tied with two shoe laces…a current favorite contraption. I want to forever hold onto this memory of you…so sweet, so handsome, so loved.
XOXXO,
Mommy
