Three of the kids' birthdays are within a month's time from mid-March to mid-April. We're on the last of them now and then it'll be my birthday next week and then a little birthday breather for two months. (Phew)
For each of my kids' birthdays I like to dedicate a Five on Friday list to them. Last year when E turned nine, I shared some of his cutest sayings from over the years. This year I'm going to tell you about the things that he has taught me:
1. He wasn't my first baby but he was my first foster and then first adopted child. I might have considered myself a childcare expert by the time he came along but there was a lot to learn about transracial fostering and adopting and he got to be the guinea pig. (Thanks buddy)
2. I grew up with three sisters and we're sort of spaced unusually--my older two sisters are seven and five years older than me and my younger one is seven years younger than me. I felt like the baby of the family for the first seven years and then later it was mostly just me and my younger sister so I felt like a big sister. I didn't know the middle child struggles were real. I know now because of him. (Sorry kid)
3. He's taught me that a kid could love salads and seafood and hate french fries and chocolate chip pancakes. His sister calls him a disgrace to kid-dom.
4. I've always known how important family was and I knew we'd always try to do what we could to have his birth family in our lives. But I didn't really understand just how important those connections could be to a kid until he showed me.
5. Lastly, he taught me to really love watching sports. I still don't watch them on television or care to learn any stats or anything (let's not get carried away) . . . but seeing him on the field or court is one of my favorite things to do. I always thought people were either into sports or not, no middle ground, and I consider myself firmly in the second category. Not only did he prove me wrong by getting me excited about his games, he proved me wrong a second way by being insanely athletic but also very musically talented and a great lover of books.
Welcome to the double digits, E. Thanks for all you've taught me and for being one of the best huggers around.
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