9 years.

This was written just after J's birthday in mid December last year. I knew I would post it eventually, I just had to get a few things right first. x

In mama-made costume and papa-made sword. Both birthday gifts.

Phew. What a year! My oldest and wisest offspring turned 9 last week. I keep thinking, it's just one of those intense busy weeks which becomes an intense month and now I need to be honest and say it's been one of those years.

Anyway, the boy-child. Our sunshine face, Beezlebum, Chicken-Butt, Trevor, child of many names is now half way through his childhood. I know I keep saying that time is moving too fast when talking about E, but really with J the last 5 years have been such a blur. We have lots of memories and a rich history of celebrations, in-jokes and fun times and few hard times too and I am so excited to live the next 9 years with him and watch him grow into his personality. I am so proud of who he is, who he is becoming and who I know he will be. He is the brightest, sunshiniest boy I know and I owe him so much for making me a mama.

His birthday has been a popular topic of conversation lately (it always is, as soon as he celebrates he starts thinking about next year) and we decided this year to do 2 things differently. One was skip the whole big birthday party with friends from school and the other was to let him stay home from school on his birthday. To take your birthday off work has long been a tradition for R, something I have adopted as well and so when J asked if he could have a sneaky day off we didn't have a good reason to say no. Skipping the party was a no-brainer. We have held some kind of big birthday bash for J every single year. Even the years when I attempt to keep it simple it becomes something much bigger than intended but this year it worked. R managed to get the day off too so we could spend the day together.

We let J choose how he wanted his day to go and so we began with gift opening in the big bed, followed by pancakes for breakfast. He played with his new lego and skateboard afterwards and then we headed out to run some errands on foot so J could ride on his new board. We ate a simple lunch at home and he spent E's nap time playing the Lego Lord of the Rings PC game with R while I worked.

Later on we had an end of year appointment with J's teacher to check up on his progress and see how he has done at school this term. This went amazingly well and we left feeling super proud and full of warm fuzzies. I wasn't worried about where he is academically (I don't want to put pressure on him unnecessarily and I know that if he needs any help or support at school then we will get it for him) but it was nice to hear that he was right on track for most things and zooming ahead in a few areas. The thing that really got me though, is about WHO he is and how he interacts and relates to others in school. It's impossible to know for sure who your kid is when you aren't with them so it was so reassuring to discover that J is kind and gentle, that he is respectful and thoughtful towards others. Basically he is my kid, the one I know at home. This means more to me than any test score could ever mean.

We finished the day with more of Jay's new game with R and I taking turns to play with J while eating salt and vinegar chips, drinking flavoured soy milk (J's requests). We took a break for dinner (nachos, also his request) and cupcakes baked by R earlier in the day. It was so nice to put other things aside (most things anyway) and spend the day focusing on him. This doesn't happen enough with 2 kids, a busy home and 2 parents who work (in a variety of different ways but it is all work nonetheless) so even though we didn't have birthday cake, or a huge spread or lots of friends and family with us this time around it was probably one of my (and J's) favourite birthday celebrations to date.

Here's to another happy year. Planning for next year has obviously already begun.