Double Digits

"What a relief, I was getting tired of being a single digit!"

Someone hit a decade old today. He's absolutely thrilled.

A special little someone who totally changed my life ten years ago.



A special someone who is not so little anymore.



The first person in the world to ever call me "Mommy".

Happy birthday, my boy wonder.

Approaching the One-Oh

I was looking at an old blog post of mine this morning. A post (when I actually had more readers) that I'd written about infertility, and wanting baby #2...and it brought us back 8 years and to bad outfits in San Fran ... but I digress. It brought me back to my little cherub.

As we approach 2010, I realize that it will be the year that my baby boy turns 10.

No longer baby, all boy, and approaching young manhood. He loves playing soccer, he loves playing tennis, he snowboards, he break dances, he wears a cool toque, a checked shirt, tartan-lined hoodie, skinny jeans with holes at the knees and his high top Converse ... all this at an age when I was getting my first blackheads. And he's incredibly sweet and good-natured (when he's done his daily harassment of his younger sister ritual).

"How many girls in your class hate you now?" I asked him this morning as I plated his breakfast (and by plated, in case you think I'm getting fancy, I mean, slopped his omelette on...).

"Uh, pretty much all of them."

Which in real terms means that we're in big trouble come Valentine's Day.

Friday Fragments

Welcome to another edition of Friday Fragments - please visit my friend, the lovely lady Mrs.4444.

*****

This has been a crazy busy week. The last full week before school starts next Tuesday. Days spent visiting friends, a week that was sprinkled with many a reflective moment, for obvious reasons. A week that was crazy but with nothing to show for it...what did I do all week? In fact, what have I done in the past 5 years! Sheesh!

I've really got to get organized.

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Any "So You Think You Can Dance" fans out there? The Canadian version is now in full swing and wouldn't you know it, there's a local girl in the top 16! Turns out she shares the same orthodontist as my boy - that's where we first found out that she was in the the dance show. And she is GOOD! Melanie M - not quite the doctor her parents wanted her to be (at least not yet) ... but she's on fire on the dancefloor.

So, is it just me, or are the choreographers obsessed with the "I'm a crazy stalker girlfriend who cannot let go of the man who continues to diss me" storyline as the backdrop for their dances? This is a continuing theme, which to be honest, is starting to get on my nerves. It certainly makes for drama (girls flinging themselves at the guy, clawing at them, pleading with them...) and it's art, I suppose.

I think Katy and Twitch did it best...


But can we move on now?

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As I scour the latest fashion magazines to figure out what I should invest in for my new work wardrobe, how shocked (and so NOT prepared to go there) was I to find that the 80's are again in full force. Those sharp angled shoulders, bright neon colours, harem pants ... uh, no thank you.

Back to work shopping is on my list of things to do, and I'm in the market for a couple of good suits. Should make great Fashion Friday fodder. What was that again?

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Speaking of "Back to", how much back to school shopping have I done for the kids? Let's see .... a big fat ZERO! I'm hoping that their backpacks haven't had any holes drilled into them by the bacteria that lies within, attracted by juicebox drippings and cookie crumbs circa June 2009.

*****

I took the kids to see "Bedtime Stories" again, but this time in the open air at our nearby soccer field. It was the last of a series that ran in our community for the first time this summer.

We met up with good friends, set up our lawn chairs, got out the popcorn, and enjoyed the film under the bright moonlight. It was fun to see the kids chattering way, little G giggling with her BFF, while stuffing her face full of popcorn. The boy intensely playing with his DS, but at least interactively with his friend (and BFF's big brother), cracking up at the game and at the movie every so often.

As the evening cooled down, and the girlie started to get tired, she climbed up on my lap for a snuggle. At first I was hit by a tinge of sadness. After all, I'm not anything if not melancholy.

This would be the last carefree summer with the kids. No more hanging out, at friends' pools, popping over for impromptu coffees with other moms in the neighbourhood, shuffling the kids off to the library for programs or just to catch a few moments with the magazines and books. At least not during the day. Oh I know, your heart bleeds. But it has been a very special time for our family.

Nothing lasts forever.

Then I realized that it's not entirely true.

The sadness faded away and was replaced by the loving cuddle of a little girl who was nestling her tired sweet face into the warmth of her mother's embrace. Her mother embracing the Now.

This, this is what I cherish, this love that I have for my kids, my husband, my family. And this love, it ain't ever going away.

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That's a wrap. Have a great weekend!

Now this is how the day should start...

As I'm rushing the kids and helping them get dressed in order to meet the schoolbus that is due in a matter of minutes, the Boy notices something.

"Mom, is that white hair I see on your head?"

I reply with a sigh in my voice,

"Probably. It's from the stress, sweetie. It's a busy time for me now, so I haven't had a chance to colour it. And Mommy's getting old."

He puts his hand through my hair, lifts it through his fingers and says,

"Wow, there's quite a bit..." with wonder on his face.

But then he smiles at me and says,

"It's actually silver, Mommy. Silver is WAY cool."

My boy, my heart.