My first baby turned 10 last month. I thought it might hit me as sad or a time’s-flying-so-fast thing. But it didn’t. What it did do was show me how much my boy has grown. This summer he has matured so much. Now, he’s still a little boy who has his quirks, but the boy he has become has me very excited about the future man he’ll be.
Ricky is tenderhearted. He feels things very deeply – joy and sadness – and he’s getting better and better at expressing those feelings in an appropriate way.
Ricky is full of imagination. I love listening to him tell himself made up stories or plot adventures he’s going to take or make happen. His room can be a wizard school one minute and the inside of a video game the next.
He loves animals and just wants to hold and touch all of them. He’s finally won over a couple of the cats who love sleeping with him each night. He’s the first to grab a toad in the yard and the last to put it down. He still talks about getting a pet bunny or another kitten or chickens or any other animal he can think of on any given day.
Ricky isn’t a big fan of change and really hates donating old toys or clothes to the DI. Throwing things away can be traumatic! His memories are tied to his “things” and his room reflects that. We swapped his bedroom light for a ceiling fan recently and he refused to watch the process and swore he’d never use that fan because he loved his old light … by bedtime he decided the new fan was pretty cool, but he’d always love his old light.
Ricky has become a fabulous help. He’s good with his brothers, especially Bobby. He loves being able to pick him up and take him places. He plays really well with Rusty and Tommy, even though they don’t respect his toys all the time. He is great with Billy and loves to read chapter books and ride bikes with him.
I love Ricky’s smile and I adore his brown eye freckle. I love the more grown-up questions he asks and how he wants to understand how things work and why things are the way they are. I love how I can see things click in his mind when he understands. I love listening to him play the piano (and just wished practicing more was something he wanted to do). I love watching him swing and climb and play with his brothers.
His brothers bombarded him with birthday kisses as we watched him open his gifts.
Happy 10th birthday, Ricky! You and I may butt heads sometimes, but I wouldn’t trade you for anything!
