Eight

My biggest little baby turned eight today. EIGHT! I can't believe we've been parents for almost a decade! I can't believe this hairy little baby...

...has grown up to this handsome young man!

He's definitely in the in-between stage -- sometimes acting/looking like a little boy, but more and more seeming like a young man. So grown up, in fact, that I can no longer tell stories on him, as per his recent request. So, hypothetically speaking, if he saw a shaggy fur vest in a girls' juniors section and thought it was cool and wanted to spend his allowance money on it so he could dress up as a Barbarian and then his dad, who didn't hear his awesome plan, revealed that it was a very girly clothing item, I couldn't tell anyone about it, because that would be embarrassing. For example.  

But I can tell you what he's into/good at at this age. So I will:

1) Talking! He is very verbally verbose! And he can knock your socks off with some of his deep thoughts, too! 

 2) Engineering-type things - particularly building with Legos. Dude can build! Not only can he follow those crazy 80-page Lego instruction manuals, but he also freestyles with the best of them. This week he was making tiny Christmas packages complete with bows and decorative wrap-around ribbon. Next week it'll be some submarine/airplane concoction.

3) Socializing - Whether it's a little old lady in the nursing home (for real) or a little baby, he knows how to talk to his audience. He's very charismatic! We're just working on when to let others get a word in edgewise.

I'm so proud of my eldest and can't wait to see what kind of a man he grows up to be. Just not yet. Let him innocently wear teeny bopper Barbarian vests for a few more years...