Happy Birthday to Me

I could start this blog off on a crabby note.  I have plenty of things that are frustrating, infuriating, or depressing.  Sometimes all three.  My life is frequently stressful and I seem to perpetuate that stress by talking to people I know will make me miserable or overextending myself until I can't effectively keep up.  Still, I'd like to start this on a positive note.  There will be plenty of time for kvetching later (and I'm sure I'll have plenty of kvetching to do).

I am a single mother to the most wonderful two-year-old I know.  He's not perfect all the time, in fact, we've hit a stage where he likes to assert his independence by telling me "NO!" when he's not interested in doing what I want/need him to do.  Still, he frequently makes me smile.  He tells me he loves me, asks for hugs and kisses, and does some pretty silly, wonderful things that make me proud to be his mommy.

Friday (1/11) was my birthday.  I don't expect Gabriel to know that, so first thing in the morning, I said to him, "Do you know what today is?  It's Mommy's birthday!"

My son, who recently had his birthday (11/21) and my mother's birthday (1/4) knew what this meant.  He promptly responded with an excited, "Happy Birthday Cake!"  I laughed and told him there would be cake later, but probably not for breakfast.

Later in the day, I decided I'd try to teach him how old I was.  The conversation that ensued amused me quite a bit.

Me: "How old are you, Gabriel?"
Gabriel: "Two!"
Me: "How old is Mommy?"
Gabriel: "Three!"
Me: "No...Mommy's a bit more than three.  Mommy's twenty-eight."
Gabriel: "Twenty-eight!"
Me: "Yes, twenty-eight"

...a few minutes later...

Me: "Gabriel, how old are you?"
Gabriel: "Two!"
Me: "And how old is Mommy?"
Gabriel: "Twenty-two!"
Me: "No...not quite, buddy.  Mommy's twenty-eight."
Gabriel: "Twenty-eight!  Thirty!  Fifty!"
Me: "Hang on there buddy!  I'm not that old!"

It's amazing how much he's learning.  By my next birthday, I'm sure he'll know so much more that he won't have this kind of confusion.  It's nice to record it now so I don't forget.  :)

My mother also got me several helium balloons for my birthday.  Gabriel was immediately enthralled by them.  He grabbed the blue one and started playing with it...and it promptly popped on the ceiling.  So now we're down to four balloons.  But for the last two mornings, Gabriel has proudly told me, "Blue balloon go POP!"  I have to remind him to be careful with the other balloons so they don't pop too.  The remaining balloons proved to be a great distraction.  I had to go to the store yesterday and Gabriel didn't want to leave the balloons behind, so I allowed him to take one with him.  That kept him happy and got lots of smiles from the other people in the store.

Overall I had a good birthday.  The best part, of course, being the smiles and laughter that Gabriel gave me.