What would we do without him?

I really like this kid. A LOT. I really really love his real smile. He makes me laugh a thousand times a day. He is completely and totally NUTS and a lot of times that makes me feel like I am going NUTS.

He makes disgusting noises and thinks he is the funniest thing ever. Sometimes he is the funniest thing ever. But sometimes those noises drive his Momma up the wall. I read somewhere once that the definition of a boy is “a noise with dirt on it”. So very true. And if I said this to Makgill he would consider it the highest compliment ever. I find it funny that the noises bother Collin and me like they do. Collin says that when he was a child his parents used to tell him that the noises he made would get him nowhere in life (he reminds them of this frequently). HA. Have you ever been to the studio? If so, you know that Collin uses those same noises every single day. The fact is, they’re funny. They make kids smile. And smiles are good for portraits. So it’s always kind of ironic to me when we tell Mak to quit with the noises.

Another thing about this boy? He never stops moving. He is such a fidgeter. He puts his pencil between his toes. He hops up from what he is doing every 13 seconds. He crawls and rolls around on the floor. He climbs to the top of the door frames and swings from them. When watching tv, he sits on the top of the couch. He is so easily distracted. This made the first half of our school year very difficult. I am the kind of person who needs 100% quiet and stillness to focus and learn. I assumed Mak did as well. I would try to make him sit very still beside me…no talking…focusing on every word that came out of my mouth. Guess what? It drove him crazy. And he had a hard time retaining any of the information I was feeding him. So now we are trying things a different way. Chances are, if I am reading from our History book to him, Mak is hopping in the middle of the den floor. And you know what? He’s getting it. Drives me INSANE that he learns this way. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a time and place for sitting still and focusing. I’m learning, though, that there’s also a time and place for letting my boy be the wild child that he is. Oh, and when we are having those focusing issues? Ten quick laps around the house calms him down like a charm.

He loves people so much. Old, young, whatever…he loves them. His love language is most definitely quality time. Even if he is doing a definite “one person” activity, he wants someone right there beside him. Because of this, homeschool has been super great for our relationship. With homeschool, I must spend lots of quality one on one time with my boy. It holds me accountable. I’m so thankful for that and at the same time a little sad that I didn’t realize this fact about my boy sooner. It’s important to me to love this kid the way he was made to be loved. I’m trying to be better at this.

His blue eyes can melt me.

He gives the BEST. HUGS. EVER. They don’t come often, though, so when you are blessed with one hang on tight and enjoy every second of it.

He continues to terrify me on a daily basis. Yesterday, while cooking supper, I looked out the window to see him hanging from a hula hoop that he had suspended between two trees with a raggedy rope. Seriously. He terrifies me.

Terms such as “nose-hanger” are part of our everyday vocabulary. Potty humor is always present in this house. There is not a single room in our house that doesn’t have a nerf gun bullet in it. He plays with little robotic bugs, k’nex and spinning tops that fight each other. He loves playing any type of ball. He races matchbox cars from one end of the hall to the other for hours.

He eats giant cheeseburgers. Like the ones that grown-up men eat. I have no idea how we will feed him when he is a teenager.

I am SO Lovin’ being this boy’s momma.

Why am I telling you all of this? My baby turned seven last month. SEVEN. I love him more than I could ever put into words. His existence gave me the title I had wanted since I was a little girl: Mother. And I know that no other person could have done a better job of helping me learn this role. I do miss my Baby Mak. But I also really love the Big Kid Mak. I wouldn’t go back for anything. He is turning into such an amazing person and I am unbelievably blessed to be a part of this life he is living. I pray that we are always close.

Seven years ago I held his teeny bald head in my hands. I loved him in a way that I had never loved anyone before. Collin and I would just stare at him in amazement. You know, the way all new parents do. You could not have told me then that I could ever love him more. He was perfect. Today, seven years later, I know that he is most definitely not perfect. He proved that tonight with the attitude he displayed on our Wal-Mart trip. Wal-Mart can bring that out in a person. But we love him more today than we did then.

Happy Birthday, Baby Mak. We love you like crazy.