Little Man

Dear Tom,

Thomas as usual was the center of attention around our pew (and beyond) this morning.  People are always commenting on his cuteness and often try to get his attention knowing full well he will do the all-too-cute-shyness bit.

He is mommy's handsome fellow.

He has always turned heads, even in the hospital the nurses made such a fuss.

Of course I have always thought he was the most handsome little boy in the world.  But, he is my pride and joy, and what mother wouldn't deem him such?

Garren knows his powers over others, and just how emense his cuteness is.  He jokes and says "he must use his powers for good not evil."  I am pretty sure that is a Star Wars reference, but it is true.

Our Thomas makes people stop in their tracks.  They can't help put pat him on the head or gush over his hair or bow ties. They go on and on (mostly the ladies) about what a sweet handsome boy he is, and how well behaved he is, and how well he is dressed.

I always thank them for compliment, and try to shrug off  their insistence that he is well behaved, for they don't seem him as often as I do.

Thomas will be 4 in a few weeks, and he finally took a growth spurt and actually fits into most of his 4T clothes.  He got taller, his shoe size went up, and his body looks more like a preschooler and less like a toddler.

I guess that others have noticed this change too.

We don't have people here that we know or see on a regular basis.  But, the church goers we sit near lately have made it a point to tell me how big he is getting.

I always hated it when people said that to me about Gracie.  Mothers like me want those baby, and toddler, and preschooler, and little girl days to last forever.  But they don't, and we don't like to be reminded of how quickly the days and months and years are passing.

Mothers like me don't like to be reminded when it comes to their little boys either.

The congregation goers that make it a point to fuss over Thomas don't pat him on the head any more.  They further hold back the urge to pinch his cheeks.

They shake his hand.  

And while you know that Thomas developed this ability very early on and was dubbed "Daddy's Little Politician," --it speaks volumes.

I don't have just a little boy anymore, I have a young man.  While the sadness of that is overwhelming, the responsibility of it is far more so.

I have to raise a boy into a man.  Not alone thankfully, but I still have to do it, and do it well.

While the man I am supposed to nurture and teach fills his pants pockets with cars and strips himself nearly bare and runs around the house, the gravity of it all consumes me this day.

I know that I will find away.  That we will all find a way, his father and I, his family, his teachers, his mentors, those people who sit a few pews back.  We will find a way to turn mommy's precious little boy into a man of the world, and a man of substance & strength, and a man of God.  A man who looks a lot like the man who shares his name. A man like you.

So tonight dear Tom, say an extra prayer for an anxious mother, and a precious boy whom she wants to grow tall and strong and proud....as slowly as he can.

Love,
Barbara


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