Ten Things Friday

My oldest son's birthday was this week. He is now ten years old. It is so hard to believe that I now have two pre-teenagers! Our son has been such a wonderful addition to our lives, so, in that spirit:

Ten (of the Many) Memories I Have of My Oldest Son

• His birth. We were old-fashioned, and didn't find out "what he was" until he was born, but in the nanosecond preceeding the doctor's announcement, I knew he was going to say, "It's a BOY!" I remember what it felt like to hold him for the first time.


• His weight at his 3 month well-child checkup--a whopping 18 pounds.


• His passion--even at a young age. I remember him in diapers--he was probably 2-- and I had "rained on his parade" one too many times that morning. He planted his little feet, balled his little fists at his sides, and shook with rage. "I just want to do what I WANT TO DO!!!" He screamed. (Don't we all??)


• How much he loved Buzz and Woody from Toy Story and Bob and Larry from Veggie Tales. We still have a toy Buzz saved in his box of special things.


• His belly laugh. Even now, his laugh is contagious.


• His ability to pick the most inappropriate line from a TV show or movie and say it in front of someone mortifying--namely, "Do you want a piece of me?!" from both Toy Story and Veggie Tales. In an effort to ward of an embarrasing moment for Mom and Dad, we forbade that phrase from being spoken. At one point his dad or I told him to do something he wasn't particularly thrilled with, and he responded with "Do you want a piece of..." He looked at us, realized what he said, and then finished with "...fruit?" He was three at the time.


• His hugs have always been amazing. You don't get any partial hugs from him.


• Sitting on the couch with him while he sounded out letters and read his first sentence.


• His baptism--where he quoted John 14:1-6 as his testimony.


• His friendship with his younger brother. Even when my second son was a baby, we would find that my oldest son had crawled into the crib to sleep with his brother. They do almost everything together. I hope that never changes.