Happy Birthday, Frog Boy...

* originally posted on his actual birthday...October 14th

Twelve years ago today, you rocked a houseful of pink. Thank you for breaking us in easy. You had to be the easiest baby and toddler in the history of life. You slept like a dream, napped on the go, and laughed your way through being such an easygoing little guy. You put up with being dressed up by your sisters and being dragged to girlie birthdays and girlie movies. I wouldn't dare to say you liked them, but you didn't complain as long as there was popcorn involved.

That's not to say you didn't add a little flavor to life...dumped boxes of cereal, a third of a feather pillow that you managed to use to cover my entire bedroom and bathroom, my toothbrush that you alternately scrubbed the dog bowl and the toilet bowl with...then there was Snappy, a hefty little 30-pound prize that you and your cohorts hauled home to show me. It's no wonder I flinch these days when I hear, "Mom, you gotta see this!"

Nowadays, your critter of choice is a frog. You can spot and catch a frog in five seconds flat, I swear. Just the other day, you called me on my cell to tell me all about the tree frog you'd found on the side of the house. I didn't quite catch all the details, but the picture became much more clear when I came home and discovered said tree frog suction-cupped to my refrigerator door. Apparently that's where he'd landed when he bailed out of your sister's hair. And I didn't even bat an eye.

Today is your picture day at school. I fully expect to see your trademark fake pre-adolescent I-could-care-less-about-getting-my-picture-taken look. When we tried to take a quick family photo (an oxymoron, if ever there were one) the other day, that's pretty much all we got. Because every time the shutter paused, you were leaping around the pond trying to catch yet another frog. You gave me a sweet gift, though, in the photo above. I followed your escapades and managed to capture a genuine smile on your ornery little face as you revealed, once again, what happiness is to a boy. What brings a real smile.

And that would be, in case I haven't overstated the obvious, the little frog you were hiding in your hand. I'm pretty sure you were hoping it would land on my camera.

Happy Birthday, Frog Boy.

I love you.