Look at Him Go

Last Thursday, the whole family went out to J's future elementary school to watch him ride his bike. WOW !! Just a few months ago, the training wheels were still tightly secured to the John Deere. When Daddy decided to take them off shorty after that, he was still hanging onto the back while J rode. On this day, he did it all by himself just like a big boy.

And I watched...helmet on, back to me, little legs spinning and spinning as he moved further and further away.

I was filled with pride as I saw him go. The very next second when I felt the tug in my heart, I realized that it was like some crazy metaphor of things to come: Slowly but surely my little boy is growing up. And on the very playground where in a couple of weeks I will drop him off on his first day of Kindergarten, I got my first taste of what letting go feels like. Today it was simply letting go of the back of the bike -- and it wasn't even me who did it, but he was off. Tomorrow he'll be waving to me from the window of the school bus; another day it'll be another milestone and another tug to my heart; we'll continue that way with pride and admiration until we reach that not-so-far-off day when we can no longer hang on and he rides into the sunset of adulthood.

There was no visible sunset that day. All day long it had been overcast and looking like it would rain. Right as we were getting ready to leave the playground, there was a torrential downpour. Just another metaphor for the way I felt.

It's All About the Butt

I think babies' butts are cute: so soft and dimply -- not a good trait on an adult -- so when I call a kid "butt", I'm certainly not being mean. On the contrary, it's a term of endearment that I save for a select few.

A is the OG Boot. We started out with butt and it evolved from there to booty and then boot. C came next, followed by RII and LM. Although those two don't really know it because I wasn't there to torment them with the name, they will always be "Boots" in my heart.

By 2004 I finally had my own Boot. My little J. I don't call him that too much these days, but I called him that for years. I have a weird way of saying it that sounds kind of like "Boo -ut." Every once in a while I still call him Butt, and I'm sure he'll put a halt to that very soon. M is also now part of the exclusive "Boot Club." She's the "Boot"-y Queen. The etymology on that one is different from the others, but in the end, "It's all about the butt."

Both D and I love shoes but this isn't about footwear at all. Our perfect pair of boots wasn't made by any designer -- no Ferragamo or Nike. It's a creation all our own -- our bootyful children: J and M.

All Laced Up !!!

These boots were made for walking and I'm attempting to run a marathon...just two weeks ago I didn't know what a blog was. Last night I sat down and created two. One for M and one for the family. I plan to create one for J as soon as I can think of a clever title for it -- This is my first post, and I'm still not exactly sure what I'm getting into. I feel kind of stupid doing it. From my understanding, a blog is a sort of online diary, right? If that's the case, a Word document would serve the same purpose, especially since I'm not really interested in anyone but me, D, and someday the kids reading it. Somehow, though, the "potential" of having it out there for the world to see makes it more exciting. Makes it more of a challenge to myself to come up with interesting things to write about out of a sometimes not-so-interesting day. Maybe it will open up my eyes and see things from other perspectives -- maybe not..I've kept a diary/journal off and on for a good part of my life and this is just another vehicle to keep that up.

I'm all laced up...on your mark, get set, GO !!