Happy Birthday

It's hard to believe he is 12 years old today. After a long day spent waiting around while Fitz finished his meetings, because Mom had to work, he wolfed down a couple of chicken legs so we could hurry through his cake before he ran off to wrestling practice. After practice, I ran the sweaty, tired boy over to K-Mart, because it was the only time we had to go get his birthday present. I was feeling a little beyond stressed at the whirlwind of our day, and a little mommy-guilt at the hurried pace of his birthday. But as he walked out of K-Mart with me, even knowing it was too late at night for him to even open his new Bionicles... he said "this could be my best birthday ever!"  How can I not love this kid?

As a birthday tradition here in Fitzville, the birthday kid gets measured on the wall of fame in the kitchen. As I wrote his name up there next to the number 12, It was hard not to notice that he was still behind even Margaret at 10... and with all the Fitz kids being somewhat vertically challenged, this really emphasizes how far behind Pipo is in that department.  But then I stepped back and really looked at that wall. I saw his very first mark up there... "Philippe - 9". I looked at that mark, and looked at todays, and saw a full foots difference. He may be behind, but he is trying like heck to catch up... and he's doing it!