happy birthday otto fox. you make seven lucky.

Half past midnight.

I’m rolling over,

reaching to turn out the light

when I see it.

A six-year-old elbow with a substantial scratch.

Unfamiliar to me.

I don’t recall kissing it or tending to it

and that somehow hurts me a little.

Gently I lift that sleeping arm,

hold it to the light,

examine it for a minute.

I place my lips on that scratched boy elbow and kiss his boo boo.

I shift around so I can stare at his boy face in this soft night time light.

Today,

this exact day,

he grew up a bit.

Today, he changed.

He’s already tan for the summer.

Hair already lightening again.

He is a tiny beacon of light to me.

A literal source of light.

Soft and solid.

He’s able to say all of his nine times tables (thanks to the bed time instructions of his big sister).

He still sleeps with his Baby Timmy, a tattered and pitiful looking used-to-be-blanket.

He’s an ace cuddling machine who still would love to be carried around.

I love to hold him.

His face brings me sheer and simple straight forward joy.

He is as uncomplicated as they come.  (That’s what six can be.)

Honest and dependable.

This is a boy who take tremendous pride in doing the unexpected and the hard and the tasks he knows you believe him to be too little to accomplish.

If he thinks I believe he can find no more eggs in the chicken coop, he’ll crawl around until he unearths two more.

And yesterday he stopped being six for all time.

He turned seven, thus confirming the fact that my babies are not babies at all.

He dresses himself – frequently in camo from head to toe.

He loves to listen to music and to be outside.  From morning wake up call till bed time tuck in he wants to be playing and exploring and moving and discovering.

And yet he always has time to stop for kisses and hugs and the way he says “sure” is just my favorite.

Otto was the single unplanned child in our entire family.  Each child prior to him was decided upon before joining our ranks.

He is the best unexpected turn my life has ever taken.