The Babe

My back-to-school blogging wouldn't be complete without a little effort trying to encapsulate the youngest of our brood, The Babe.  His nickname is so far from original that it hurts my brain, me who likes to think in allegory and simile and metaphor.  But, honestly?  By the time you get to your third child, you are sometimes just tired.  And, hence, the moniker that stuck seems to be almost redundant, until you consider the following:

1.  Have you looked at that face lately?  And did you grow up in the 1970's?  If so, the term "babe" is spot on.  He is just so dang cute that you can't help but fall head-over when he smiles that smile.

2.  Have you seen him dance?  CRAZY skills, no doubt, from Mike's set of genes.  Literally, he about stops my heart when he comes into the kitchen and starts dancing around.  Move over John Travolta cause you got nuttin' on my baby boy!

3.  Have you been charmed by him lately?  If not, hold onto your wallet because boyfriend has an entitlement complex when it comes to Legos.  And, I can assure you, he'll con you into driving him to the closest Lego-selling store under the premise that he just "wants to look" and you'll end up walking out with a 300-piece, $100 set that was on sale, a "bargain" he convinced you was a steal.

If I hated him, I would push him towards politics, where he would somehow manage to mend fences and barter negotiations and balance the budget, all in his freshman year.  He's THAT good.

On the opposite hand, brother has a serious frost button and can go all John Gotti on you if he doesn't get his way.  We are working on that.

But, with all that stuff aside, he truly is a sweetheart at the core.  He loves himself a little bit of Jesus.  He gives the biggest hugs and kisses and still holds my hand when we walk together.  He truly worries if he hurts some one's feelings or accidentally injures them and he has a very soft place that is easily injured by rejection of his friends.

He builds Legos for hours on end.  In fact, that is practically the only toy he has ever enjoyed playing with.  When he thinks about moving on to a new past time, he immediately gets sucked right back into those bins of blocks.  The assortment of different creations he has conjured up convinces me we need to steer directly toward some sort of architecture/building/engineering career.

Babe also has an affinity for animals.  Blissfully, this year, his classroom teacher is a collector of all things in the small animal category, from lizard to rat to fish, so he is surrounded by fur and gills and scales all day long.  When he comes home at night, he likes to tend to his two hamsters and new (unnamed) red fish.  And, currently, he is bucking for more in the animal department.  We are running out of shelf space (darn).  Maybe another good career choice would be in the veterinarian sciences?

This morning, I realized that brother is getting really good with his reading, despite a rocky start a couple of years ago.  When I compare my preschooler/kindergartner, who had trouble identifying the letters of the alphabet for three school years in a row, with the boy he is today, as a first grader, I am astounded at this progress.  He is coming into his own with this reading thing and getting more and more confident each day.

My prayer for you, Babe, is simple:  That He would use your learning differences to teach you about persistence and perseverance and goal setting.  That you would share your infectious personality with others and teach them that different is cool.  That you would be a light for Christ for all of your days.

Enjoy this year, buddy.  Pet and hold every animal in your classroom daily.  Build every Lego invention you can dream up.  Keep dancing and holding my hand (please!).  Take on new challenges with gusto and without complaint.  Love even the unlovely.

And never forget that you are my skit-a-marink, a dink, a dink.

I love you!!