Birthday # 1

No, not a first birthday. None of those around here this year.

What I mean is it's time for the first birthday in our birthday season. Starting today we will have 4 birthdays in the next 22 days. We will be turning 2, 4, 8 and 12. It's the even years.

Littlest Mr. is first. He is 8 today. Knowing him now, as an 8 year old, his birth story makes a lot more sense. He is all adventure and pure boy. He also has a crazy sense of humor. There's a reason his hero name is John the Jovial. He is a class clown or the family funny guy, but in the best sense of it. He's not the jokester that drives everyone nuts, but rather, the one that always knows just how and when to lighten the mood. Even at 8.

He's also all about sports. His summer schedule is full of baseball, swimming, adventure camp, tae kwon do, skateboarding, VBS, a fishing trip, and conditioning training for football. Yeah, it's a lot of dirty uniforms, stinky, sweaty practice clothes, dirty water bottles, muddy cleats, faded ball caps, and empty sports drink bottles. My van is empty right now and ready to be loaded down with gear and balls and lawn chairs and blankets, after all, that's a lot of practices and games to sit through. Quickly, the backseats will be piled up with the toys and books of the little who will sit through a lot of these with me. It's time to update the van's first aid kit and charge up the camera battery, maybe even buy a second one. I don't want to miss those pictures of The Littlest Mr. with his hair bleached out by the sun, all brown skinned and blue eyed. That smile of his now filled up with big teeth and if I could capture and bottle that laugh he has...well, I would have a single moment of summer perfection in a bottle.

On top of all this, he's easy going and easy to please. No crazy dinner request from him or strange desserts wanted. No difficult birthday treat for school. Nope. Not him. His idea of the perfect school snack was mini Oreo's. His comment was, "Well, duh, mom. Who doesn't love an Oreo?" I can't argue there! His perfect birthday dessert is almost as great, maybe even better. No cake for this critter. He'll be having candles in his ice cream tonight. Two flavors, Birthday Cake and Oreo cookie.

We're going to squeeze birthday dinner and dessert and presents in between the after school homework and the weekly baseball practice. My bet is he'll come back from baseball and want a second helping of birthday ice cream!