wha ... ???
i'm having a very hard time wrapping my brain around this one, but yes: henry turns 15 today.
(technically, not until 6:50 this evening, so i have a few more hours of deniability.)
i'm truly floored each year, when i have another "my kid is how old?!" moment, that they are growing up so much more quickly than i am. but this? this 15 thing? no. i am not sure i can accept it.
i mean, come on:
that was 15 years ago?! granted, i barely remember ... but it wasn't THAT long ago!
little mr serious ... mr frowny face ...
this little buddha? he's 15 now?!
sigh.
it happened way too fast.
just about one minute ago ...
it was all bob the builder and thomas the train, and he snuggled with me and was the cutest thing i'd ever seen. and he looked way, way up at his daddy.
he loved the water ...
and loved to read maps and instructions and figure things out.
truthfully, neither of those things has changed at all.
and there was a sweet spot, when he was so wonderful and funny, and we thought life couldn't get any better.
and then he became a big brother.
and he was in love with her, and she was in love with him.
but that hasn't changed, either.
he was such a sweet little boy, with so much personality.
but that hasn't really changed, either.
as fun-loving as he is, he definitely has a serious side. the side that wants to just do his thing, focus, achieve a goal.
he's always been ahead of the curve: held his head up the minute he was laid on my chest after he was born; consistently in the 95th-100th percentile for height; early reader, advanced classes. in many ways, he never felt like a baby. he's always been mature for his age, and now we are seeing the man he will become.
he is polite, kind, patient, intelligent, analytical.
he will be a great father if/when the time comes. and he's taken lessons from a great role model.
and the friends. oh my word, the friends. he's picked some great kiddos to surround himself with, since the very beginning.
it makes my heart so happy to see him with his friends, because they are always smiling and laughing with each other. always.
maybe he hasn't changed so much. maybe 15 years really isn't so bad. as long as i don't dwell on the "we've signed up for driver's ed and lifeguarding class, and he has to take the PSAT in the fall, and scholarship? he wants to try to get a swimming scholarship? for college in three years?", i might just make it through his 15th birthday.
Happy Birthday Henry! What a beautiful, moving, heartfelt post!
Posted by: Jen@thecottagenest | 18 February 2015 at 03:29 PM