To My Birthday Boy

An Ollie Tale

Where to begin? Ah, yes.  Concerning Ollie...

Ollie's are happy, jolly and love to eat.  You prefer to be held, comfortable and cozy, rather than run off and have adventures.

Thus making you a hobbit of sorts...

You. Are. FIVE. I just can’t even. You are so sassy and opinionated and hilarious. Wakka wakka. No one can make you do something you don’t want. You cry easy and love easy. You LOVE YOUR DAD more than anything in this world. you pull adult human size booger’s out of your little nose and love to show them to me. You still give zero fucks, man.  You tell it how it is. Honest and funny and true and in that tiny adorable voice.

We’re working on you feeling your feels, baby. You have so many emotions and all of them are ok. No matter what you’re feeling, it all matters. We are working on HOW we express them. Let it out, love.

You are so in love with anything soft. Your blankets have to be perfect. You like the flip tuck dad does. I love love love when you want to be tucked back in. You are your father’s child.

You are like a cat, hiding and squeezing yourself into corners or between couch and ottoman, watching the iPad.

Your love of music, holy crap. You love music of any kind. 80’s glam rock, 90’s pop, musicals, commercial jingles. Anything and everything. You feel it in your soul. “Add this to my favorites!” Is the phrase you yell so very often. Watching you dance to Black Betty is a common and excellent occurrence in this house.

You are going to be an engineer along side your rockstar status. The way you figure math out ASTOUNDS me. It is just so logical to you. You sit and think for a split second and then give the answer. Just like “duh”. You love to figure things out, set it up, take it apart, rebuild. Your imagination is limitless and I love that you think you can do it all. Because you can.

In case you thought you had grown out of it, you have not. You are still “The Darkness”. From loving villains to thinking people are assholes for parking terribly, to ripping paper into little bits and leaving them on the floor because it’s fun to destroy, you march to a dark drummer. You feel things so very deeply and I hope that is always the case.

I see your curly head and giant eyeballs and wonder what else you got from me. Because almost everything I see and hear and feel from you is 100% from your father. But every once in a while, I see the little bits you got from me. When you line things up and smile because it looks good, that’s me. When you listen fervently to and tear up at the Eddie Saga stories I tell you and your brother, that’s me. When you make up your own stories, that’s me.

I can't wait to see what adventures we all get into in the years to come. Complete with second breakfast, elevensies and the other four meals when we can get them.

It's been an incredible year, one of the best of my life.  I'd do it all over in a heartbeat, there and back again, for sure.  Thanks for choosing me to be your mom.

All my love,
Your mama

To My Birthday Boy

To My Birthday Boy,

Oh sweet boy. What a wonderful, hilarious, joyful, exceedingly blissful year it’s been. What do you think of your life so far? It’s hard to believe that, seven years ago today, I was just going in for one of your last checkups only to find out that you’d be joining us in the world a few short whirlwind hours later. 

It happens every year. I reach for the right numbered (in this case, a 7)candle and pause, think, “Wait, that can’t be right.” Only to remember, yeah, no, that’s the right number. You are growing so fast. I don’t always see it every day but looking back, man alive. Growing up is fast, hard work.

I love how much you read. It so reminds me of how I read as a kid. Voraciously and regardless of subject. Your little brain is constantly being opened more and more. You’re learning so fast and remember so much. It lends itself well to your know-it-all tendencies. I love to hear Ollie yelling for you to help him read something in a video game. And I kind of love/hate that I can't skip parts in a book anymore because you call me out hard on it.

You have had such giant feelings this last year. It seems that any time you don’t have big feelings, the emotional delivery elephant stops by and deposits more into your bank. We are working hard on how to have those big feelings. How important it is to know you are allowed your feelings. That they are all valid and matter. It’s the how we handle them that you’re starting to pick up on.

You are learning things about the world. This often breaks my heart because you’re finding not everyone is kind, good and truthful. You don’t understand why people say things are girl things or boy things. You don’t understand why some people don’t have homes. You don’t understand why your dollar can’t fix problems. Your gentle heart wants to help everyone and every thing. And you will. You get that from your dad - this genuine desire to help everyone. 

You love unicorns. And dragons. And dinosaurs. And comics and Star Wars. And non-fiction. You want to work in a pet store when you grow up. You also really, really, really like to be right. Like a lot. A really lot.

You crumple at the thought of any change - new pillowcase, old car being sold, comic book store closing. When mom said “green-blue” yesterday and today said “blue-green”. Everything you feel, you feel 1000%.

You loved your longest plane rides to and from Disneyworld this year. And you rocked the lines, the walking, the rides and the pool. Your favorite part was def the pool in our backyard.

I can't thank you enough for all you're teaching me. How to relax. How to change plans. How to listen harder, better and more often. How to start over again. How to make mistakes and move on. How to play Zelda 4 Swords while you and Ollie watch me fail over and over again. I'm not the best student but you are by far one of my best teachers.

I cannot wait to see what this next year brings.

I hope you are yourself, are happy and are constantly learning.

I think you’re a great, cool kid and the best son a mom could ask for. Stay kind, stay curious, stay little, innocent and blind to the worse things in the world forever. Tuck on in next to me and let’s read. You're my most favorite Felix in the whole world. I know I say it each year, but seriously, best year of my life.  

All my love, 
Your mama