Yesterday marked nine years since I became a mother. Caleb Daniel entered the world a whopping 9lbs 9oz and 21.5 inches long. I remember feeling like I had been hit by a bus. We didn't find out the gender at our ultrasound because we wanted to be surprised. Honestly, I thought we were having a girl until Mike and both had a dream about having a baby boy on the same night. At that point we decided that we needed to settle on a boy name "just in case."
Since he was due close to my uncle Dan's birthday (May 12th) we knew Daniel would be part of his name. I had two naughty Dannys in school that year so we decided against using it as a first name. Mike wanted to name him Kale, but I thought it was too close to Kate when I wrote it out and I knew I'd end up crossing the "l" thinking that it was a "t." Then he switched it to Cale which I still wasn't fond of so I suggested Caleb as a compromise. I don't think Mike has ever called him "Cale."
It's funny how a name fits a person. Caleb is definitely a Caleb. The name means "loyal" and he is loyal to a fault. I remember one time we decided to leave Brady with grandma while we went into town because Brady had bitten Caleb and nearly drawn blood. Caleb sobbed the whole way because he didn't want us to leave his brother behind.
There are so many interesting things about him. One of the most prominent is his obsession with mice. It started when he was a toddler and loved watching Bear in the Big Blue House with the little blue mouse named Tutter. He started drawing mice, writing practice sentences about mice, using mice as examples for math problems (there were six mice and two went away how many are left?) and so on. The door of his room has a giant piece of paper with a "mouse hotel" drawn on it.
Speaking of drawing, he is very good at linear drawings of buildings and machines and such. He pays very close attention to the details of how things are put together. One of his favorite things to do is build with legos. He is very creative in that sense and even built a solar system for a school project out of legos.
I can't believe he is nine already. It seems like yesterday he was outside in his duck boots and camo sweatsuit splashing in the mud puddles looking up at me with those chubby baby cheeks and bright greenish blue eyes. Today he is inches away from growing taller than my 5'2" mom and quite proud of the fact that at age nine he is as tall as my now 6'3" brother was at age nine-and-a-half. I don't think he'll reach his goal of passing grandma by the time he turns ten, but if he hasn't by age eleven I'll be very surprised.
To my eldest child... Happy birthday. It is so nice to have someone in the family who looks at the world the way I do. Someone who can relate to my life experiences as the firstborn. At times this sameness can cause us to butt heads, but know that despite any conflict we may have I will always love you. You will do great things one day, of that I am sure. I can't wait to see what this next year brings as you grow and learn and mature. I hope you enjoyed your birthday and I am sorry I embarrassed you with that balloon. I was just excited about your birthday and I thought it would be a fun way to share that excitement. I didn't realize it would upset you as much as it did. I love you and thanks for being such a wonderful and unique child. Our family wouldn't be complete without you. Love, Mom
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