Let's Hear it for my Boy

This post is to link up with the M.O.B. Society's "Let's Here it for the Boys" series.

Today I will brag on my oldest child, Brian. I almost said "oldest boy", but at 15 years of age, he is more of a young man.

As my twenties came and went and there was no man in my life, my dream of children seemed to be fading. I told myself that if there was no one on the horizon by the time I was 35, I would investigate artificial insemination. (Sorry if that's TMI.) So, imagine my happiness when I looked at the little stick at 34 years and dwindling months that we were expecting!

The first thing my husband did was to call his mother. When she answered the phone, he greeted her, "Hi, Grandma!" She 'fell out' on the other end of the phone, 1900 miles away. I could hear her.

I remember when I first saw my son in person, the day after he was born and they wheeled his little bassinet into my hospital room. Here was this little baby, for whom I had waited some 35 years, and for whom I had spent the previous 9 months in intense preparation. I approached cautiously, peered over the side of the bassinet and thought to myself, "What do I do now?"

He has always been "advanced". At seven months of age, he crawled across the phone on the floor. We hung the phone up and several moments later, the phone rang. My husband answered and it was the 911 Emergency Services, calling to see if everything was ok! "We heard an infant..." Brian had somehow not only knocked the phone off the hook, but managed to dial 9-1-1 in the process!

At some point within the next 6 months or so, after he was standing, but before he had a firm grasp on walking, Brian batted at a computer keyboard on a shelf above his line of sight. Danged if he didn't DELETE WINDOWS from the computer! (Luckily hubs is a computer whiz, so no major damage was done.)

Fast forward 6 years, to the birth of his little sister, who was born 2 months early, weighing a smidge over 3 pounds. At the time, if Brian was still for 5 minutes at a time, it was cause for celebration in our household. After seeing us hold his sister, Brian also wanted to hold her. DH came up with the idea to prop him up with pillows on one of the couches in NICU and lay little sis in his arms. He was absolutely still, save for gently stroking her head and cooing at her like a pro.

Through the years, he's had the usual exasperation with his younger siblings' actions at times, but Brian is intensely loyal to his brother and sister.

And, as a bonus, at 15 years old, he will still hug his Mom in public!