Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Six Years Old.

"Mommy?" he asked in his most serious whisper.

"Yeah, hun?"

As I stood by his bed, holding his hand and hoping he'd fall asleep quickly, I knew this was not his usual stall tactic.  He was about to ask me a real question.

"Mommy, how do you know I'll turn six tomorrow?"

"Because it's your birthday tomorrow.  January 2nd.  You know that."

His big brown eyes looked up at me, fighting to stay open.  Even in just the glow of the night lights, I could see his brow was furrowed in the familiar way when something was on his mind.

"But how do you know that I'll be six tomorrow and not on the twelfth when we have my party?"

I giggled to myself.  I sighed with relief and the pure tenderness of his innocence.

"Honey, tomorrow's your birthday.  You turn six tomorrow.  We just pick a convenient day to have your party.  We like to give people time to get settled after the holidays."

"Oh," he replied, satisfied.  He snuggled down onto his pillow and his eyes started to close again.

At night, when he's just about to fall asleep, he's at his sweetest.  His innocence shines through.  He is so clearly a child, yearning to learn and to know everything that he can.  It is then that I see most clearly that even though he pretends to be so independent, so sure of himself, really he's just a boy.

He's my boy.

He was a beautiful, little, tiny baby.  6 lbs, 3 oz., and only 15 days early, but he didn't fit in regular newborn clothes.  I had to buy preemie clothes so that things would stay on him.

Look at the waistband on the pants!  January 4, 2007
But he grew and got even cuter.

September 2007

And bigger.

December 2008
And sillier.

January 2, 2010, yelling, "I'm three!"

And he started looking more like a boy and less like a baby.

January 15, 2011

And he started doing big kid things.

June 26, 2011

He had interests and took pride in his accomplishments.

January 17, 2012

He started kindergarten.

September 6, 2012
Even though he didn't WANT to start kindergarten.

He was not pleased with the first day of school photo shoot.

Right now he has a one-track mind.  It's all Angry Birds, all the time with him these days.  

January 1, 2013, last day as a 5 year old.

He's still my beautiful baby boy, just much, much larger.

Happy Birthday, Nathan!  I love you more than you'll ever know.

38 comments:

  1. Awww happy birthday to your boy! LOVE the angry birds garb. Very cool.

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    1. Thank you! He is obsessed with the birds, He collects everything about them!

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  2. Aww, happy birthday to your little one! He is adorable :D

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  3. Great post, and happy birthday to your little one. January babies are the best (I say with complete bias since I, too, am a January baby :)

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    1. Thanks!
      I just saw your birthday post (but didn't comment yet). January babies ARE pretty awesome!!

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  4. That was a very good question he had. Happy birthday to Nathan!

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    1. Thanks! It never occurred to me how confusing it could be.

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  5. I can't believe how tiny he was. He's adorbs.

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    1. Thanks! He was so small and skinny! It was months before his newborn clothes really fit him. I miss my tiny baby.

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  6. *sniff* they grow up so fast! Happy Birthday to your son, but to you too! You did all the work that day, after all :)

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    1. Thanks so much. Much like now, he gave me a run for my money the day he was born too!

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  7. So cute, and sad. I think after 5 they are officially not "babies" anymore:(

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    1. Yes, I agree. Except when he's asleep, he's ALL kid!

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  8. Aww, happy birthday Nathan and happy birth day, mama! What a handsome fella you got there!

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  9. Love this! Happy Birthday Nathan! Shane's 9th birthday AND his party are on the 12th ;) First time the party has been on the actual day. I guess we'll both be ready for a cocktail that evening (Shane picked FunPlex, ugh!)!

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    1. I considered FunPlex. How funny if we would have been there for our parties at the same time!! We are having it at Monster Mini Golf - he loves mini golf so much. I am not up for a party (because people invariably end up back at my house, which is fine) right after the holidays so we always have his party the second full weekend of the new year.

      Happy birthday to Shane!

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  10. Great pictures. I hope he has a great party.

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  11. Got me sniffling - and not from allergies. Mine turns six in February. How do I stop time for just a little longer?

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    1. I didn't realize they were so close in age! I kept asking Nathan to turn 4 instead of 6 but he said no. It's bittersweet. I appreciate the independence but I miss my baby.

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  12. OMG so adorable!! I'm cuddling my 4 month old baby boy and trying to enjoy his babyhood as much as possible. My 2.5 year old already looks like a little girl instead of a baby. Sigh.

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  13. Awww! Happy birthday, Nathan! I loved the angry kindergarten face. So darn cute.

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    1. Thanks! He did NOT want to start kindergarten and he was so mad about it. That is going to go down in history as one of my favorite pictures ever!

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  14. Aw, the sweetest. He is definitely a handsome little boy. My heart melted at that newborn picture! Happy birthday, Nathan...may all your angry bird dreams come true :)

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    1. Thanks!! I miss my squishy little newborn sometimes. He was pretty quiet those first 2 weeks. He hasn't stopped making noise since!

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  15. AWWWWWWW!! Love the monatage!! So sweet and cute and adorable!! enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!! hope he has a great party!

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  16. Happy birthday to your little man!

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  17. I love this birthday tribute to your son. What a little china doll baby he was!

    And that is the MOST Angry Birds garb I have ever seen on one little person. :) Made me smile. Ellen

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    1. Thank you! He has a red angry bird slap bracelet too and he was mad I didn't let him go find it before the picture. That's just tip of the iceberg on his collection. When he's into something, he goes all out on it!

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