Admiring Atrain

Today was little Atrain’s 3^rd birthday party. He’s really not so little any more.

The past 24 hours have been very loud: lots of cute kiddos enjoying lots of noisy toys, lots of dirty counters begging to be cleaned and re-cleaned, lots of impatient party prepping errands to run, etc. But I did manage to freeze my mind for a few quiet moments to admire my growing boy.

When Atrain woke up at 6:30am the first thing he said was, “We’ll make my cake now?” He knew it was the special party day we’ve been planning for weeks. After a quick run to the store with sweet Jdog, we got right to it. His little fingers have become so finely tuned, carefully cracking open each egg. Once all of the insides were drained, he put the shells on the counter and smashed them one by one into granite, laughing with delight. When the chocolate batter was finished he could not keep himself from snitching licks. And when it was finally frosted and decorated with his I-screamer monster truck on top, he guarded the cake with his life.

It makes me so happy to watch Atrain enjoy those around him. He was overjoyed with the arrival of each of his party guests, bringing them in immediately to watch “Mater Monster Truck” on the big screen. He laughed with them, danced with them, hid under the table with them, and talked to them. I loved hearing him ask his cousins, “You come with me downstairs to make monster trucks?”

When the time finally came to sing the birthday song and blow out the candles on his cake, he knew it was his moment. He sat in the chair at the head of the table with it directly in front of him. He listened to the group sing to him, and a few phrases before the song ended, he blew out his candles. He wanted to be sure that he was the one who delivered the extinguishing blow.

After we said goodbye to his guests, Atrain spent a few quality moments with Jdog, showing him all of his birthday winnings. He loves his brother. He brought over his big bag of cars, and said, “I’m such a strong man,” before tipping it over next to his little brother. Then he laid next to him and put his arm around Jdog’s little head. Both of my boys looked up at me from the ground. I tickled them, laughed with them and thanked God that I have them.

Atrain finished the day out by playing a game of basketball for me in his grandparents’ front room. I love this kid’s imagination. He pulled the bar stool over to play the part of the hoop. He shot. He got hit. He fell in slow motion. Then he stood for applause. He stole my heart again—just as he has done every day for the last three years of my life. I can’t wait to celebrate his birth day tomorrow.