bringing dinner back

“Our first child helps us to discover the depth of love. Our second, the breadth of it.” — Beth Wilson Saavedra, author

Baby Sawyer

In digging around to find this quote from Sawyer’s birth announcement, I also ran across his baby book. Not even a date of birth listed. Also found a journal. Nothing there either. I had a journal on my computer, which was stolen a year ago, taking with it entries from August 2003 through March 2010. Now, admittedly, I probably wrote more in my first six years of motherhood than my last, but still.

So perhaps I’ve been a bit lame in the record keeping of our sweet second child. I like to think it’s all in my head. Ha! Well, here’s what’s there today, at least, on his 11th birthday.

1. He read more than 4,236 pages last month (had to keep track for school). Part of that included rereading the whole Harry Pottery series, just for the heck of it.

2. His first sentence was “I eat cookies.” Yes, I did write that down. When he was in preschool, he had to make a list of things he was thankful for at Sunday School. He listed all of our pets … and pie. The boy loves him some sugar.

3. He has a collection of 91 owls in his room, a collection he started on our trip to Greece in 2007. I choose not to think about the fact that someday he’ll leave home and, in all likelihood, won’t take said owls with him.

4. When he was having so much trouble sleeping by himself earlier this month — zombies, of course — we offered to get a him a dog to sleep with. Later, when the new dog didn’t completely cure the zombie fear, I offered to help him ease into it, coming into his room at 12:30 am, then 1 am, 1:30 am, and so on, until dawn. To both offers, he said: “That seems like a lot of trouble for you.” Sure it was, and that was fine. And I appreciate that he got that.

5. One night a couple of years ago while I was working late, he burped about midnight. In his sleep, he said, “Excuse me.”

6. I recently heard him brag to a friend that Noah is a great artist. His often calls his brother an idiot, but he loves him.

7. When he’s really mad — crazy, stubborn, slamming doors mad — if you wait just long enough, you can make him smile, giggle, and grunt at the same time. This doesn’t happen very often and if you time it incorrectly, it’s ugly. But his grudges never last very long.

8. Tzatziki is one of his favorite foods and hot tea (English style) one of his favorite beverages. Yes, I’m ignoring his passion for sour cream Pringles and Kool-Aid.

9. When he prays, he thanks God for our house, his friends, our pets, and the children of Africa. Every time.

10. He knows himself well enough to leave a campfire full of friends and scary stories (see No. 4).

11. The only things he loves and craves more than sugar, football, and baseball are his family and friends. Those are priorities I can get behind.

Happy birthday, Sawyer! I may have no clue when and where you lost your first tooth or how much you weighed at your 9-month checkup, but I hope you know how much I love you.

Sawyer & Malcolm