Happy Birthday, "Baby" Boy....

[I'm having trouble getting blogger to upload pictures, so I'll try again later]

Potatey is turning six years old today.

I can remember the day he was born like it was yesterday. And let just say that, looking back, his arrival certainly set 'the tone' - this child never does anything half-assed. He arrived almost 6 weeks *early* (and at a whopping 6 lb 12 oz - he would have been a 10 pounder if he had gone full term, no doubt about it). Potatey decided he was 'done', and by the Gods, when this child decides he's done, he is DONE!!!!

Beautiful boy [he HATES it when I call him beautiful - he will grab my face, will look straight into my eyes and say "Mom, beautiful is for GIRLS. I. AM. NOT. A. GIRL.", followed by a dazzling smile and a "But you can call me handsome."].

Precious boy.

Your name means "Gift from Above", or "Gift from God", and oh, what a gift you are. There are no words to describe what you mean to me, and what you mean to your brother, and what you have done FOR your brother (in helping me pull him out of his own world and making him part of ours).

You life so far has been anything but easy. After your stormy arrival, your first year was marred by your big brother's challenges really coming to an ugly head (and I know you didn't get your fair share of attention during that time- and I think it's testimony to your awesomeness that you simply decided to 'roll with the flow') .

You yourself had more than your share of "funky illnesses* during that time and then the discovery of your severe dairy allergy. And things didn't exactly stop there. It became obvious that your immune system wasn't functioning properly, you developed asthma, you had a very scary adverse reaction to the Varicella vaccine, you developed more food allergies, then Celiac's disease, and then.. and then...

It really wasn't until I, your mom, 'faced the music' when you were about 3.5 years of age and decided to go 'full bore biomed' with you too, that your health started to improve.

And I thank your Lucky Stars that I had the energy and courage to make that decision (despite people telling me that I was *nuts*, as after all you were still meeting all your developmental milestones on or ahead of target, so "what are you worrying about?". Uhm, my beautiful boy is in very poor health??).

And look at you now.. about 2.5 years later. You are the picture of rosy good health, eat like a piggy (within your particular dietary restrictions), have energy to spare (despite the metabolic/mitochondrial issues), are into and onto and under (literally and figuratively) EVERYTHING.

You are leaving your little peers in Kindergarten *in the dust*, both in social/emotional development (then again, you have been immersed in "social teaching, coaching and scaffolding" since you first became 'conscious'.. osmosis DOES apply here) and in academics (oh, the questions you come up with).

You are a presence, you have an energy about you. Every eye in the room is drawn to you when you enter. And you leave a void when you leave.

You truly are amazing!!!

[and I realize that it all could have gone very differently. And I will never take how things DID turn out for granted]

Beautiful, oh uhm sorry, HANDSOME boy. It is a delight to watch you grow, to have watched you blossom from sickly baby, to high energy tod, to precocious Kindergartner, and now to very *present* young child.

You are a blessing to me, to your brother, to all around you.

Thank you so much for choosing me to be your mother, for allowing me to share your life's journey for a little while.

Happy, happy birthday my sweet. I can't wait to see your grinning face when you bounce of the school bus this afternoon and tell me all about the special things you got to do in school today [And to then watch you tear into your presents].

I love you...