Thoughts of Blake

As promised, I will do a blog about my memories and thoughts of Blake. Be warned... this one may be as long or longer than Lilly's post :)

Blake has always been such a character. I wonder what he will be like as a teenager. I subbed in a middle school class the other day, and I looked out at the sea of faces and wondered what Blake would be like at that age. Would he be the one all dressed in black, sitting in the back row pretending not to care? Or would he be the heartthrob with the intentionally mussed hair and the gold chain around his neck? Would he be the one with all the acne who acts the class clown to try to hide it? Or the one who just sort of floated into the room hoping nobody would notice him?
Will he have a lot of friends who like to hang out at our house? What sorts of things will he be into? Will he play sports? Will he do drama? Will he have a girlfriend? Will she be good enough for him? Will his friends' parents like him? Will he be a gentleman? Will he be respectful? Will he make good choices?

There are so so many questions I have about what he will be like.
When he was little he was so funny. As I said in Lilly's post, he had issues with his speech. So often I would find things funny and nobody else knew what he said! LOL!!

One time Shelley was visiting when B was about 15 months old, and we were playing with Blake in the kitchen. Then he went to the living room and came back and took Shelley by the hand and led her to the couch. He patted the seat and told her to sit. She did. Then he came back and got me and led me to the couch. He sat down next to Shelley and then patted the couch for me to sit next to him. I sat down right on his foot. He pulled it out from under me and said, "Son of a BITCH!" We both just cracked up!

Another time when he was about the same age I think...there was a cabinet in our living room that I had asked Mike to take to the garage. As is the case with most men, he didn't take it out. Blake was doing something and all of a sudden I heard a CRASH! I ran over and the cabinet had fallen over! Luckily it fell against the piano so Blake didn't get smushed by it! But I screamed, "Jesus Christ!" and grabbed him out from under the cabinet... then proceeded to scream at Mike for not taking care of it.

Later, Blake would re-tell the incident, which would cause my mom to go into fits of laughter every time so she would have him tell it again and again. He would blab on in his baby garble which sounded a lot like someone singing opera with a mouth full of marshmallows... and then he'd slam his hand down on the floor, or a table (whichever happened to be more convenient) and say, "Dee chi! Dee chi!"

Another time I was shopping with him and my niece, Greta. He kept pointing to the balloons by the checkout counter and saying, "Wookit, goco momma." Greta and I could NOT figure out what a "goco" was. I named off every picture on every balloon we could see. He'd reply with, "No, Momma! GOCO!"

About 2 weeks later we were watching TV and all of a sudden Blake ran to the TV and pointed and said, "Momma! Goco!" I looked an there on the telly was a big, green CIRCLE!

I called Greta right away.

It is amazing to me that he is 8 years old now. He is looking forward to going to third grade next year because he wants to take the MEAP (a standardized test). He loves math and reading and is excelling at both. He was completing 7th grade math in his head (IN. HIS. HEAD.) the other day. I had brought home some papers from the class I subbed in and Mike was showing Blake how to do the equations (5x =20, x +6 = 32, etc) and Blake was doing them as if he had known how to do them all along! Now granted... even *I* can do those problems... but I don't think I could have done them when I was in SECOND grade!

His problem solvling skills always amaze me too. Just recently I had some jewelry cleaner and I put it in a jar and put my rings in it and said, "Too bad we don't have one of those vibrator things like at the jewelry store." Blake said, "Oh, I have an idea." and left the room. He came back with the foot massager. Amazing! I never even THOUGHT about using that.... but he came up with it effortlessly.

He loves black olives... and has since he first had them at 17 months old. His memory is astounding. He loves broccoli. If given the choice to have chocolate or carrots with ranch, he would choose the carrots and ranch 9 times out of 10. He loves to be outside, and loves it even more so if it involves water of any kind.

I used to baby sit for a little girl named Amie. Amie called Reeses peanut butter cups, "bo cups". Not sure where she got that from... but that's what she called them. Then I started to call them bo cups. Now Blake calls them bo cups :) The legacy continues :) He will even go to McDonald's and order a "Bo cup flurry" and they look at him like he is speaking another language. Oh wait, he IS speaking another language! LOL :)

Blake is thoughtful and polite. He is loving. He cares about people and animals. He is persistent. He is generally happy with a few grouchy spots along the way. He believes in magic. He believes in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. He believes that his Mommy and Daddy can protect him from anything. He knows that Daddy is good with math and Mommy is not... so when he asks Mommy to check his homework, he adds, "All except the math." He has a wonderful sense of humor and has the ability to laugh at himself. He isn't afraid to make mistakes. He thinks outside the box... something I hope he will continue to do his entire life!

He recently started volunteering at the animal shelter. He and his Dad do this together...good male bonding :) He even used his allowance to buy leashes for him and his dad to use because the ones at the shelter are fallling apart. He understands that we cannot bring any of the animals home. He understands that the animals who aren't adopted get put to sleep. But he also believes that any animals that aren't there when he goes back, have been adopted and not put to sleep. He thinks the animals... especially the dogs... are eternally grateful that he gets them out of their cages to walk and play :)

I feel so blessed to have this journey to share with him. I know I will make mistakes along the way... hopefully not any that will scar him for life. Hopefully nothing I have done thus far has scarred him for life.

I can't wait to see the person he becomes... oh wait, yes I CAN wait. I don't want him to grow up so fast. I want him to be my baby boy forever... a promise he made to me when he was 3. LOL :) He also promised that he would snuggle on my lap until he is 35.

But this year brought the end of giving Mom kisses in front of his friends. And I did make the mistake of calling him "Baby" at school once. And sometimes I call him "Sweetie" in front of his friends... which just MORTIFIES him. And most of his concerns are talked about, in private, with Dad.

My baby boy is growing up. I don't think I like it very much.

I love you B-Boy. With everything that I have and all that I am. You are my heart's desire.