His little toddler arms encircled my neck and squeezed. It wasn’t much of a squeeze but it went straight to my heart. In this little-big family, we all love Lazarus’ little hugs. They are so soft and gentle, even though he tries so hard to give us a tight grip. We laugh at his not-very-strong little arms and we wonder what it will be like to have an older boy around the house and home in a few years. Will he take over carrying in the firewood? Will he love to be beside his daddy, working on the tractor or tinker on broken motors littered around my husband’s workshop? Will he take over mowing the lawn for his daddy, a chore dreaded by the girls? Will he be a book-ish boy or an outdoorsy boy?
We don’t know what it is like to have a “big boy” around the house to help out, but we do know what it’s like to have a little boy.
And it’s adorable and fun.
We love his little piles of dinky cars that we trip over [perhaps that will change over years of stubbed toes]. His growing pile of tractors – green and orange – are amusing to the older sisters in his life. Right now, his whole two-year-old world revolves around one word : “ta”. (For you see, this is his word for tractor.)
In fact, he doesn’t say much at all- maybe that is a welcomed change in a house full of chatty women. 🙂
[His vocabulary so far consists of the words “mommy”, “daddy”, “ta” and “wa-wa” for water or milk.]
The December snow was falling lightly outside on the barren lawn, but inside the home, it was cozy and warm. Eight children laughed in excitement of a simple homemade-party for their little brother. Nothing fancy, just family together. I lit the candles on his farm-themed-chocolate cake, baked by his grammie, and carried it into the dining room. The chocolate frosting tempted the children and there were fingerprints already in the sides of the three layer cake. Cuddled by his biggest sister, this little boy was quite content.
This small son of mine … we nearly share a birthday, a few hours apart , and for that I will always cherish the day he was born in an special way. I had hoped he would be born on my birthday but God allowed him to wait just until after midnight of the following day. I, myself, am only a week apart from my mother’s birthday. There’s something special about being so close to someone’s day of birth.
“A happy birthday to you, a happy birthday to you,
May you feel Jesus near
every day of the year…”,
the girls sang out in chorus.
His little face full of wonder took in the two glowing candles, one shaped as a little red barn and one in the shape of a beloved tractor. What should he do with them? He did not know how to blow them out yet. The sisters took care of that task quickly and efficiently. The cake was served with dollups of melting vanilla ice cream and a side dish of love and sticky fingers.
Happy birthday, my son. I am so glad God blessed our family with a dash of baby-boy blue.
by Gigi
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