My BABY!

I can't tell you how much I enjoy this baby of mine. I don't know if it's because he is the last child and I realize how fleeting babyhood and childhood is, or whether it's because he's been such a good natured, easy, fun kid. But whatever the reason, I just want to eat this boy up with a spoon. And he's running away from me - toward big-boy-ness.

Sometimes I grab him as he's flying by and insist that he sit on my lap and cuddle with me and be my baby again for just 1.3 minutes.

The other day we were talking about what we would do for his 6th birthday that's coming up in June. He said to me, "Mom, when I'm 6, am I still going to be your baby?". My heart flipped over and I said, "Yes bud, when you're 26, you'll still be my baby. When you're 46, you'll still be my baby. Somebody has to be the baby and I guess you're it. Sorry."

And he just shrugged his little shoulders and said, "It's okay, Mom, I don't mind."

A couple of weeks ago, he lost his first tooth. So now he has this charming little gap bottomed smile that's even more irresistible, and I had to take a picture of it. He's kind of hard to get pictures of, neither of my boys are posers like Brynn, but here's one that captures his personality pretty well.

A few years ago, I watched a woman on Oprah who had lost her little boy in a drowning accident or something. She talked about how he used to come in from playing outside and smell like a little dirty dog, and that smell just grossed her out. (Moms, I know you know exactly which smell that is.) Anyway, she said that after her son died, she would have given anything to have that little dirty dog smell back again.

That really touched me, and has always stuck with me. And even though I have a super-human crazy sense of smell and a low tolerance for stinkiness, I have, ever since that Oprah episode, really appreciated that little dirty dog smell on my children - and relished it even.

So here's to my little dirty dog boy - my baby/big boy - I love you Lukie!