Trevor has been so excited the past few days, exclaiming every little while that he couldn't wait for Wednesday to come, that it was going to be the best day, blah blah blah.
I just realized as I went to type this why it was such a big deal to him. Don't get me wrong, I knew it was his birthday and all but I couldn't figure out why he would be more excited this time around than on his last seven birthdays.
But you see, Trevor only has a "real" birthday once every four years, so I guess if you think about it that way he has been waiting an awfully long time. When you also consider the fact that he turned 8 today, and will be able to be baptized on Sunday, then today takes on even greater meaning!
Last night I told him to calm down when he was excitedly jumping for joy that he only had to sleep one more night and then it would be his birthday. I almost feel bad enough now to wake him up and apologize.
Yeah, that's right, I said *almost*.
Anyway.
Now is the time where I jump up to my loudspeaker and extol the virtues of my sort-of middle child. If you are tired of me bragging about how awesome my kids are then you are welcome to skip to the end...but you'll have to answer to Trevor, and I might just tell you a little story about how formidable he has become and it will also have you peeing your pants in glee. So you might want to suck it up and read to the end anyway...but you are welcome to empty your bladder first, just in case.
I'll wait.
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Did you wash your hands with soap? No. Wait. Don't tell me. I don't want to know.
So back to Trevor.
Trevor is a good kid. He really is!
He is the kind of kid who eats pretty much whatever you put in front of him. Salad?
No problem. The greener the better.
He has never told me "Hey Mom, this food isn't half bad!" like another of my children *cough*BLAKE*cough* has. He did tell me once that when he grows up he wants to make sandwiches as good as I do, and tonight at Tae Kwon Do he was extolling the virtues of my white chicken chili to a kid who was looking at him like he had a third eyeball.
Which leads me to my next point about Trevor.
This kid has never met a stranger. We have seen him walk up to a classmate on the way into school and just casually drape his arm around the kid. One day last year he came home and told me that a kid on the bus punched him. At first my mama bear sensors started clanging, and then I asked him what he had done to the other kid and he told me that he just gave the kid a hug. I asked him if he'd asked the kid if it was ok first, and he told me that, no, he hadn't. We then had a long discussion about people's "bubbles" and how we have to get permission to enter said bubble.
At our last house here in Tennessee we had an open field behind our backyard and no fence, only a little drainage ditch to separate them. I would send the boys out to play and leave the back door open so I could keep an eye on them. People used to walk their dogs in the field right behind our house and to my extreme annoyance, I caught the boys calling out like they were long lost buds. I called them in and gave them a lecture about not talking to strangers and Trevor got this worried look on his face.
"But how do I know if the person is a stranger?" he asked.
I thought for a second and told him that if he didn't know the person's name then the person was probably a stranger.
Fast forward to a few weeks later after several more "stranger danger" discussions when I felt confident that they could go back outside without me.
I let them out and headed to the side yard where I could still see them to pull weeds and pretty soon I heard Trevor and Blake talking louder and it didn't sound like they were talking to each other. I turned around and lo and behold, they were talking to someone we didn't know again. I called them over and reminded them about the whole not talking to strangers thing and Trevor replied,
"But MOM! They're not strangers! We asked them their names first!".
I had to to some quick thinking to get myself out of that one!
Trevor loves to build things and is constantly coming in to ask me to take a picture
of one of his Lego creations.
Unfortunately he hasn't been blessed with the best timing, so this is usually when I am changing a nasty diaper or have raw chicken on my hands...so I haven't actually done it yet. But one of these days the stars will align and I will make him a portfolio of his creations for his posterity to ooh and ahh over...or something.
You may remember that we put Trevor in Tae Kwon Do last year to help him learn to focus some of his energy and manage his anger better. He has amazed us with his natural knack for the sport and his instructors have told us several times recently that they would hate to lose him because he has a real talent for it. In one year he has gone from a white belt to (as of Friday) a blue belt black stripe...which means that he has advanced seven belts. It is a lot of fun to watch him get out there and go through the intricate patterns.
He will be doing his first tournament on Saturday, so we are excited to go and see it.
It is getting late, so I will leave you with that story that I promised.
Back in October we had a horrific hail storm here in Tennessee, resulting in quite a bit of damage to the homes in our neighborhood.
Roofing companies descended on our neighborhood like army ants. I had so many of them knocking on our door (five in one day) that I got fed up with them waking Sophie up and posted a sign that said
"No Solicitors, this includes ROOFING COMPANIES!".
The boys were irritated with all of the solicitors we'd had and applauded my rather shabby
looking cardboard sign, after getting some clarification about what a solicitor is.
Fast forward to several weeks later.
Chad and I got a babysitter one night so we could go out on a date. We arrived home after the kids were in bed and she proceeded to tell us that they were all good, we paid her and then she left. A minute later she knocked on the door and when we let her back in she said that she couldn't believe she'd forgotton to tell us the highlight of their evening.
Just before sunset a guy from a roofing company knocked on the door.
She answered it and when Trevor saw who it was he told her that he'd take care of it.
She decided to see how this would play out, so she stepped aside.
He stepped out onto the front porch and proceeded to tell the poor man off about how we didn't want any solicitors, especially from roofing companies and his mother had made a sign, and hey!
Where'd the sign go?
Then I believe he accused the guy of taking the sign, and finally the guy decided he didn't really need our business after all and left.
To Blake's credit, he stood behind Trevor during his tirade with his arms folded and probably would have jumped right on in if Trevor hadn't done such a good job of handling it on his own.
Chad and I laughed till we cried at this story and I wondered out loud if the guy really did take my sign and Chad wiped his eyes and said that he had put it in the garage earlier that day thinking
we didn't need it anymore.
I guess not, especially with Trevor around!
Ahhhh. I am glad I finally wrote that one down. Too good to forget!
Happy 8th Birthday Trevor Dean!
We are proud to be your parents and can't wait to watch you be baptized this weekend!
