Happy Birthday, Boy-child!

You'd think that the first child would be the one who surprises you all the time, that by the time you get to the second one, you'd have the parenting thing sort of figured out and relax.  Well, let me tell you....Angus has been surprising me for 7 1/2 years.

That's right.
7 AND 1/2 years.

He was my turkey poisoning.
I was terribly sick over Thanksgiving, positive I'd eaten turkey that had been sitting out too long.  Never once thought I might be pregnant, because we'd had to take such heroic measures to get pregnant with Maggie.

He came early.
I was due in August, he decided to be born in July.  We didn't have the bassinet set up, I didn't have an outfit for the child to come home in, no newborn diapers...we still had a couple weeks to get all that stuff together, right?
Wrong!

He was colicky.
I didn't know what to do with a baby that cried 6 hours a day for 7 months!  Babies were supposed to sleep and eat!  I was counting on that, especially with a two year old to keep track of.
Yeah, well...this one is different.

After we got through with the colicky hell days and I got on some anti-depressants, things got better.

We discovered that he has the most tender, kind heart...his sister was stubborn and defiant, got lots of spankings.  The boy child, though, just needs talked to in a stern voice and glared at...he goes to pieces and will never do "it" (whatever got him in trouble) again.  He cries for other people, too.

He's always got a pet near or on him.  He's always busy building or destroying something.  I'd like to take a moment here and thank his paternal grandfather Vern Pluhar for giving him a little shovel to dig treasure holes all over my lawn and a hatchet to skin my carragana trees.  Also for cultivating a deep love for rocks, old metal things found around homesteads, and boxes.  I looked in Angus's underwear drawer the other day and it has been cleaned out to make room for his rock/coin/stuff collection.  I don't know where the underwear is.  I don't WANT to know where the underwear is.

He sings a lot.
Especially in public restrooms.

He can wear any hat with great style and look fabulous.

He's never really fully dressed without a tie, and I've found out that he MUST have collars on his shirts to feel comfortable.  (DESPAIR that I have a child who NEEDS polo shirts!)

He likes being tickled, loves being snuggled, still holds my hand when we walk across the parking lot at Walmart.

LEGOs.
He's absolutely passionate about LEGOs.

His favorite song is Bon Jovi's "It's My Life" or the Beatles' "Obladee-Obladah, Life Goes On"

Right now, he's building LEGOs in some sort of Star Wars manner, singing happily, telling me stories as I type.  This afternoon is Campapalooza, his birthday party that he's invited everyone he's seen or talked to for the last 4 months.  I have no idea what the head count will be, I just know he's taking all his guests on a hike, followed by rolling around in the tent in my yard, followed by cake and ice cream.  So, I'm going to wrap this up and go clean for the big event!

Happy birthday, little man!