Clark Turns 5!

I woke up this morning to a five-year-old crawling into my bed. A five-year-old. How is that even possible?

I do not spend Clark's birthdays remembering what I was doing on this day X number of years ago, the way I do with Lance. Clark was born by C-Section on a Monday morning. I had been admitted to the hospital on Friday afternoon. His was a long, drawn out delivery process. All I think when I wake up is, "At this time X years ago it was almost finally over." What I remember when I think back on his birth was the moment I first saw his face. I was laying on the operating table and they brought him around, wrapped in a hospital blanket and wearing one of those little hospital beanies. My first thought when I saw him was, "He looks like me!" I was in awe. Josh is dark haired, with brown eyes and skin that tans when it sees the least bit of sunlight. I had fully expected my blue eyed, fair skinned recessive genes to get lost whenever we had children. But there was Clark, with big blue eyes and fair skin. He wasn't even crying, just looking around at his new world. He was absolutely beautiful. He still is.

 Clark has these big, beautiful blue eyes that I now know aren't like mine at all. His have this amazing depth of color almost like crystal and when he looks at you... My Mom got it right when she looked at him one day and said, "You are going to break hearts with those eyes of yours."

 Clark is my sweet-spirited, tender-hearted boy. He is so very kind. He is the kind of person who waves to strangers and makes friends at the playground and will talk to anyone. He speaks like a little adult and has no problem talking to you, if you take the time to listen. Being his mother has made me realize how rarely adults take the time to really listen to little ones. He has the biggest imagination of anyone I have ever met and spends most of his days pretending, usually being a super hero. I have to stay on my toes with him. He'll walk into the room and say, "Okay Wonder Woman, we've got a problem..." and that's my cue. He's Batman and we're the Justice League and we're off. He always includes me in his make believe, a fact that I remind myself is a privilege.

 To celebrate his birthday today some sweet friends were kind enough to let us come over and use their pool. Clark loves to swim. We spent the morning swimming and soaking up the last of the summer sun. While Lance napped this afternoon he and I played Wii. He has gotten into playing the games on the Sports Resort so we bowled and played frisbee and all kinds of games together. He's already starting to beat me, which doesn't bode well for me as he continues to grow. This evening he chose Chic-Fil-A for his birthday dinner and Dairy Queen for his birthday treat. The girls working at Dairy Queen even made him a special birthday blizzard and wished him a happy birthday - like I said, he makes friends wherever he goes.

In honor of his birthday I thought it would be fun to "interview" him and document the answers. Here's what he had to say about himself:

1. What is your favorite color? Blue.
2. What is your favorite animal? Lion and a gorilla.
3. What is your favorite food? Pizza and cereal and corn. (He also said broccoli but that's not even the slightest bit true so I edited).
4. What is your favorite book? Batman the Five. (This is what he calls the Five Minute Batman Stories that Katie got him for Christmas last year.)
5. What is your favorite movie? The Lion King.
6. What do you want to be when you grow up? A doctor.
7. Who is your favorite super hero? Batman (and he wanted me to ask who his favorite group was - Justice League.)
8. What is your favorite restaurant? Steak and Shake.
9. Where is your favorite place to go? The comic book store with Dad (something they just recently started doing together).
10. Who are your friends? Maggie and Ella and Lynzie and Lexie and Ms. Tammy and Mr. Mark.
11. What is your favorite Bible story? Daniel and the Lion's Den.

So there you have it. There really aren't words to describe the awesomeness that is my oldest son. I pray that this year will be an amazing one for him, that God will protect his tender heart. I can't wait to discover the world in new ways with him. After all, it's different when you're five.