Today we celebrate Ciaran and all his energy and enthusiasm for life. He is one of the most affable kids I know. He has never met a person, old or young that he can not talk with. His big broad smile helps charm us all and look the other way when the mischievous side takes over. He is inventive and creative and innovative, always building something or thinking about that next thing he can do. This is an encouraging combination with his mathematical mind, he just naturally picks up math concepts very quickly.
He loves baseball and can't wait for his season to begin soon. Biking, roller blading, skateboarding, anything with wheels or quick moving are favorites of his. Fencing, swimming, rock climbing are some others. Video games are a favorite past time, current favorites are Mario Brothers for Wii and MLB All Stars for Wii. Musically he is learning to play piano at his own pace and keeps eying the guitar to want to try out soon.
I keep telling him to "stay little" because soon he will seem so tall to me and eventually he will tower over me I would guess. The last year of single digits and the start of that transition to a teenager and eventually a young man. Still he is still very much a little boy and will leap in my lap for a snuggle, wrap his arms around me tightly for a hug or stand near me so I can still tousle his hair. I will miss those things and need to spend a lot of this time treasuring them.
Still watching him grow up, develop friendships, mature, and have fun is such a special opportunity. I am so thankful I am home with him and get to spend as much time with him as I do. Even when his energy and his enthusiasm for irritating his sisters gets under my nerves I still love that I am with him all the time. In many ways little seems to change from year to year as you walk the journey with them you see very little change from year to year.
The biggest positive change I can see this year in him is he learned to love reading. The boy who would never read anything unless absolute forced and then only by counting pages and minutes can now be found in his bed in the mornings reading a book or telling me just one more minute while I finish my chapter. Not sure what caused this transition but eventually he found some books he liked and discovered there are other interesting worlds there in those pages. We could barely pull him from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and Eragon. Books I never could have imagined him looking at much less reading last year. I still remember taking away all electronics in first grade until he would buckle down to read and thinking we were never going to get out of bob books and primary phonics books. Amazing to think less than two years later he read a 700+ page book! Encouragement for any of you with slower to come around readers.
My heart has such a soft spot for Ciaran and his energy and enthusiasm and the loudness with which he attacks life. I am tired sometimes just being around him and I am always amazed at how he can just keep going and going and never seem to tire. His volume level is loud, louder and loudest. Yet he brings a joy and smile to my face every day. He warms my heart every time he smiles or runs into me with a head butting hug, even though they are starting to hurt from his strength.
Today we take him and his friends to the Mall of America to enjoy the rides and then home for cake, ice cream and hours of playing Wii, a perfect party for him and what he asked for. Much has changed in the past 9 years still I have had glimpses of the boy in front of me since he was about 2 years old when his nature and these traits started to really show through. Amazing.
I love you Ciaran, thanks for being such an amazing little boy and awesome son!
Love
Mommy
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