Celebrating Simon

The prime purpose of being four is to enjoy being four - of secondary importance is to prepare for being five.  ~Jim Trelease

Today, our middle child, Simon, is 4 years old. 4 years doesn't seem like that long when I write it but to think of the time when Simon was just a glimmer in our eye seems like an eternity ago. It's hard to imagine, or remember, life without all of 3 of our children in it. Simon is a special kid to many people. He was the long awaited answer to many prayers. The final bit of healing that I needed after the loss of Mac. It was an exciting time for our family. On my side of the family, I was excited that Simon would one day become the best friend and partner in crime to my nephew Caleb, 9 months older than Simon. On the other side, he would be big cousin to our niece Rosemary just a month after being born. You never really know what to expect from your kids. Of course, you have dreams and expectations for them. Since Simon was my first boy to raise, I had engrossed myself in fantasies of him bringing me worms and other creepy crawlies that he found, playing ball in the house and breaking things, and always having peanut butter and jelly smeared on his face.  I expected a stereotypical little boy and I was not disappointed. He is an amazing, intelligent, feisty, silly, funny, and beautiful young man today. We are so proud of him and he brings such joy and laughter to our lives day after day. While he was our "difficult child for the better part of 2 years, he has really blossomed lately into a very sweet and caring child. And now Liam is the difficult one. Yeah, Irish twins are fuuu-uun. Rather than taking a walk down memory lane, I thought I would conduct an brief interview with him over lunch(mac & cheese, his favorite).

(please excuse my strange voice, I have a wicked head/chest cold and sound pretty odd on top of my already ridiculously thick southern drawl. Not a great combo.)