Thing One Turns 10!

Thing One with his birthday Ferrari. (He wishes!!)

Ten years old! Double digits! Now that is something else, for both Thing One and his parents. It's such a cliche to say, "Wow, time has flown by," but honestly, time really has flown by.

He's so big now, I was left wondering yesterday if I could still pick him up. After all, he's only a head shorter than me at this point-- so last night I tried to do it. Luckily, I can still pick my beautiful boy up, but only just. He's all limbs and angles now, so it's not nearly as easy as it was when I bundled him up in his bear snow suit in 1999 and carted him all around London.

Usually on the birthdays of Thing One and Two I like to summarize the things that they've accomplished this year, and the things they love to do. Thing One still loves science, aerospace, Boy Scouts, swimming, Lego and all things electronic. This year, to his delight, he won the paper airplane flying competition at Science Night at school, he also passed his first cello exam, among other accomplishments.

But the thing he did this year that makes the proudest doesn't come with trophy or a certificate. One Monday, one of Thing One's best friends told me that their cat, Nelson, had been run over by a car during the weekend. His friend, who has got to be one of the toughest boys I know, started to cry. Later that afternoon, Thing One and I started to talk about death-- of both people and beloved pets-- and what that means for people, and how sad it can be.

Thing One gave it some thought, and then he suggested that maybe we would want to get his friend a stuffed cat that resembled Nelson. I said that might make him even sadder, so then Thing One suggested that we stop by the bookstore and get his friend a funny book to cheer him up. We did that, returned home and then Thing One got busy making his friend a card.

Thing One wanted to deliver the gift straightaway, and luckily his grandpa was here from the U.S. so they could walk over together. I don't know what the card said, or what transpired when he got to his friend's house. All I know is the next day, his friend's mother came up to me in the school playground and said, "Your son is unbelievable. He has got to be one of the loveliest boys I know."

I couldn't agree more.