My sweet son is just that. Sweet. So sweet. I could just eat him up. He brings me so much joy each day. He is tenderhearted but can be rowdy as all get out. I often have to walk away when the boys are wrestling because it causes me to wring my hands and cringe with fear.

Today I am reflecting on CJ’s tender side. He loves stuffed animals (so much like his Uncle Jon at that age). He has about 75 Webkins and knows them all by name. He worries about them being warm and comfortable; I often find them covered up or laying on pillows.

We went to a birthday party Friday night at a kid friendly pizza franchise. CJ is a bit competitive so he is pretty driven to win as many tickets as possible at these kinds of places. He is astonishingly good at these games! And as usual he walked away with a boat load of tickets all of which he squanders on a million little items like bouncy balls, tatoos, plastic creatures and sticky reptiles you throw at walls and windows. When it came time for us to leave, Ceej had a handful of creatures and before I realized what he was doing, he had put them into the tiny zipper pocket of my athletic jacket. Without thinking I zipped up the pocket and he cried out then unzipped my pocket halfway. “They need to breathe.” says my son.

He is so cute.