twelve

Anthony is turning twelve tomorrow! In his honor here are twelve things about him

1) Easy birth, easy baby - that all changed right around the time he turned two and started doing things like stuffing  wash clothes in the bathroom sink, turning the water on and causing a minor flood that ended up leaking through to the basement. I honestly think this is a pretty common two year old boy thing to do.

2) When he went to preschool he fell head over heels for a girl named Kate and asked her to marry him. He told her she could wait to give an answer until they were older, but she decided to answer him right then and there. On a good note, she was the smartest, most well behaved child in the class, so at least he picked a good person to rebuff his proposal.

3) He was diagnosed with diabetes a few months before his fourth birthday and cried exactly once when I had to start giving him multiple daily shots.

4) At some point in the second grade he got mad at some kids  because they were being hypocrites, so he called them pharisees. I bet that really got them but good!

5) He tries to call my sister at least a hundred times a week. It usually has to do with asking her to buy him something. She seems unfazed by him. He loves her for more than her gift giving though.

6) He wants to be at least six foot four and if he turns out not be to that tall he will consider this a great failure.

7) He's never met a fruit or vegetable he's liked. One time when we were at the drive thru of some fast food restaurant he yelled out to the woman at the window that he wanted a burger BUT NO CABBAGE! He meant no lettuce, but whatever, it was funny and we still like to tease him about it.

8) He likes "retro" things and asks kids his age if they like retro things and if they say no, he writes them off.

9) I watched a documentary a few weeks ago called Half the Sky about the abusive treatment women in third world countries have to endure everyday and he sat there and watched the whole thing with me  (without me asking him to) and looked like he was going to cry through much of it.

10) Yesterday he told his sister Jane that she was going to make an awesome mother and he meant it.

11) He is bossy. Maybe even bossier than my husband. Greg tells me this will serve him well. Of course a bossy person would say something like that.

12) Happiest memory with him? There are many, but the one that makes me want to cry when I think about it is when he was in preschool and his sisters were in elementary school, so I had some hours during the day when it was just me and him. We would ride our bike to Target and he would talk the whole time about how all the beautiful things in nature came from God. And he would try and whistle while he was riding. He remembers those rides too and counts them among his favorite, proving that yes, it is all worth it - the kids will remember and appreciate all those times when you were just with them and listening to them and not doing much of anything at all except enjoying the world around you.

Happy Birthday Buddy!