Elliott Moyle :: 7 years old!

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

Today, early this morning in fact, you turned seven years old.  Once I get over the fact that I am the mother of a seven year old, I'm sort of at a loss of words, but a mind racing with thoughts about you, my oldest son.  You are a brilliant boy who is kind to everyone, thoughtful, helpful, and always ready to laugh until you fall on the floor or squirt milk out your nose.  You are emotional and sensitive, but tough and resilient as well.  You are an excellent big brother, and getting to be a pretty good Spanish speaker, too.

When I sat down to look at the last year's worth of pictures to find the few that I wanted to use for your birthday video, it was hard to pick.  In the last year, there are almost no pictures of you alone.  In fact, only a handful.  Every picture I've got of you, you are with someone you love and take care of.  Your brothers, your cousins, your grandparents and your Uncle Willie....oh, and a few with mom and dad, too.  Mom and Dad are always bugging you to "be a leader" and when I sit down and look through pictures I realize that you are becoming one.

When you were a baby, Grandma Judy got you and dad shirts that said, "Me" and "mini me".  In the last year in particular, it is pretty obvious that you are your dad's son.  Yes, you've got my quick to fire temper and the patience of a fruit fly, but oh, you are so much like your dad.  Your mannerisms, your interests, gadget obsessions, routines and rituals, general impatience (okay, that's me, too), and the way that you obsess over tiny details that no one else even thinks about.  You two are peas in a pod.

You take such good care of your brothers.  Yes, the are annoying and drive you crazy and sometimes there is fighting and screaming and crying and gnashing of teeth.  But, when I sit in the office and listen to you and Wyatt quietly giggle before falling asleep, or watch you patiently play with Quinn and let him climb all over you, it melts my heart a little.  I never ever thought that I'd be the mom to three rambunctious little boys, but seeing the three of you together, and how much you all love each other, makes me confident that you'll always be best friends and always take care of each other.

You told me a while ago while tying your shoes in the morning, "Mom, I think I've finally figured the system out and guess what - I LOVE SCHOOL!"  And love it you do.  When I went with you to parent teacher conferences last November and listened to your teachers rave about you, and listen to you converse in Spanish with Ms. Cerezo I was just blown away and so proud.  Even at this young age, school is important to you and doing well is so important to you.  It's just so cool.

You love to dance and play video games.  You are absolutely loving playing basketball and are a fantastic reading, reading almost completely at a third grade level.  You love Lego's and drawing pictures.  You take hours to tell me a story and every night at dinner when Quinn does something goofy, we have to reprimand you for laughing SO HARD and being crazy disruptive.  You love to eat and have almost taken over the reigns of salsa maker and taste-tester.  I do all the major cutting, but you do everything else.  You are so helpful and even though sometimes you are a handful at home, are always on your best behavior at church, school, and out in public.

For your birthday dinner today, you are having a tough time deciding between Dickey's BBQ and Crown Burgers for a corn dog.  I vote Crown Burger's but we'll see what you choose.

Kiddo, every day when I go to bed, I count my lucky stars that you are my boy.  You made me a mom, and unfortunately for you, you are still my guinea pig as I (and your dad) figure out all this parenting stuff.  But, there couldn't be a better guinea pig any where in the whole wide world.

Love you so much!
Happy Birthday Baby Boy!