Forgive This Blatent Mommy Moment!

Eighteen years ago, at 3:41 am, a miracle occurred.

An 8 lb, 7 oz baby boy was born, crying and already mad over several things.

-He'd tried to be born several times before he was ready;
-The opening to his new world wasn't wide enough to suit him, so he widened it even more;
-He was face up and ready to tackle the world;
-He was NOT happy with the nurse who wrapped a strange thing around his head; he reached up and took it away from her;
-And finally, due to his new mother's ignorance, he realized food arrived much faster with rubber nipples and demanded his milk be delivered in said fashion, not the natural way.

His milestones soon showed us this was no ordinary child. For instance, being born so early in the day, he soon had his days and nights confused, and it was three months before he slept through the night.

He had been 'cruising' around the apartment, holding onto furniture from age seven months until 11 months, when I took him to his Granny's house. He promptly let go of the chair and walked across her living room floor. I was speechless; he'd never even taken two steps without tightly gripping my hand!

One month after his 1st birthday, we discovered him sitting on his dresser, playing with his corn starch. I didn't even know he could climb out of his crib.

He had a bad biting habit, and it is a wonder we ever allowed him to have teeth at all!

His preschool teacher informed me that while he was two or three years ahead of the others when it came to understanding the alphabet and numbers, socially he was right where he needed to be.

In kindergarten, he had power struggles with his teacher, over such things as putting on his coat to get in the car (he ran hot, like his dad, and in the winter, preferred to not wear a coat in the car) and doing things 'his' way, if he thought his teacher's instructions were 'dumb'.

He was on the Honor Roll from 1st-3rd grade, falling off briefly one grading period due to English. He was accepted into the Accellerated Reading Program, as well as Science and Critical Thinking. He dropped out of the Accellerated Reading in the 5th grade, and argued violently in the 6th grade that 'Algebra made no sense' and 'I can do it in my head; why do I have to show my work?'

He also upset the boys one day when his 'girlfriend' was the line leader of the girls the same day he was line leader. 'When we got to the cafeteria, I held the door and let the girls go first. The guys were kinda mad at me, but Kate smiled at me!'

He played baseball from kindergarten to 5th grade. He tried basketball in both 3rd and 7th. He excelled in football in 4th and 5th, helping his team win the Super Bowl AND going undefeated. He was invited to join the All Star team, and again went undefeated. As one coach was overheard remarking, 'What are we going to do about that #71? He's spending more time in our back field than our own players!'

A scout troop was organized when he was in the 3rd grade, and he's shown great leadership qualities all the way through, even being voted Senior Patrol Leader in the ninth grade. He was bitten by the NASA bug in the 6th grade, when his scout troop went to the Challenger Learning Center. He discovered he loved doing the experiments, and decided to model his high school curriculum accordingly. He did flirt with the idea of becoming a CSI, but realized he enjoyed physics, math, and science, and returned to the astronaut goal.

He's always been very good with small children, especially his baby brother who arrived when he was twelve.

This year, he will graduate with honors and with eleven college credits. He lettered in football (see previous posts from Sept-Nov) and I'm proud to announce he is now an Eagle Scout. We're just waiting for the paperwork to be approved in Texas and his ceremony will be sometime in February.

December 11th is the day he finds out if he's been accepted to Purdue. Soon we begin The Great Scholorship Hunt, in order to achieve his dream of higher education.

Tonight, we will celebrate his 18th birthday with a trip to Buffalo Wild Wings (he wants to take the Wild Wing Challenge) and a birthday cake. Nope, not gonna tell you what's on it; he has a habit of reading this blog during his computer class! I'll tell you tomorrow:)

Thank God!
A humorous moment also occurred around 8am on this date in 1991. My ex-boyfriend, who is responsible for introducing me to my future husband, was also born on this date. He and his wife had no phone, but lived next door to his parents. I called them up.

"Tell Craig I said 'Happy Birthday, it's a boy'!"

She laughed.

"It's a good thing we know you! Congratulations!"

Enough already! Let a certain celebrity have his privacy! Who cares who was rushed to the hospital; if his wife has moved out; if he's addicted to prescription drugs and/or sex! I'm with another talk show host on this: Yes, he's a victim of horrible, 'slow news day' timing. But it's the holidays, people! Leave him alone!

17 Days Left!
Gifts Bought: 2, plus two birthday gifts.
Cookies Baked: 2 1/2 dozen chocolate chips. The kids were thrilled with hot cookies when they arrived home from school!