Summer afternoon

Yes,  I KNOW YouTube is giving you problems with that video. I'm working on it. Meanwhile: this.

This being a boy.

Not a toddler, though it hasn't been that long.  That title had been passed on.  Not even a very little boy, although still the smallest and youngest in his class.

A boy.

One who often doesn't need to be reminded of his manners.  One who tells stories - great flights of imagination - with words bigger than he is.  One who loves his friends and his family and is rarely loathe to show it, with hugs, kisses, or stroking hair (he always asks first).

One who used a public restroom all by himself today, and emerged glowing with pride. One who has learned to dress himself: long-sleeved shirt, shorts and socks with sneakers, but all put on facing the right way.  This is one who can button, snap and zip himself most of the time.

This is one who makes me stare in awe and amazement - how can this lanky child be ours?

And it makes me so much more grateful for moments like this - simple ones playing on the sprinkler on a warm afternoon, when for a moment, things slow down.