spynotes ::
  April 07, 2006
Chase all the clouds from the sky

AJ has been seeming older and older to me lately. At his five-year checkup earlier this week, we learned he�s gained more than three inches and five pounds since last year, clocking in at exactly the fiftieth percentile for both. �He�s the model five-year-old,� remarked his doctor as AJ read quietly to himself in the corner, hoping to stave off his nerves about the shot he knew was coming. He didn�t cry at all when it finally arrived � in fact, he�s only ever cried once for shots and that was on an occasion where he had to have three at once. He was thrilled to know that, barring accidents, bird flu or foreign travel, there will be no more needles in his future until the year 2015.

But it�s really not about height and weight. All of a sudden, he�s got his own life. He and The Girl Next Door and her older brother have whole afternoons of explorations and games that I know little about. They have their own language for speaking to one another now. I dropped him off in the child care room at yoga on Wednesday and he walked in with a relaxed and gregarious, �Hi guys!� I had a momentary flash forward of AJ doing exactly the same thing at 16, when running into his friends. His calendar is currently busier than my own (or, more accurately, mine is busy because of his). He has an Easter party to attend tomorrow, a birthday party next Saturday. And of course he has big plans for the Easter bunny next Sunday. Add those to his usual round of school and gymnastics and playdates, and he�s got a full week. Still, he�s looking for more.

AJ: (examining his calendar): Mommy, what do you do on Good Friday?
Harriet: Well, some people go to church.
AJ: (looking crestfallen). Oh. But that�s too long. Maybe we could just go for a little while.
Harriet: You want to go to church?
AJ: Well, if we could just go for a little while. And then maybe we could play some baseball.

Holidays have a way of reminding you of the passing of time. AJ has reminded me recently that the earth rotates at a speed of 1070 miles per hour and revolves around the sun at the alarming rate of 66,500 miles per hour. That explains a lot. Still, I am sometimes a little jealous that while the daffodils are the same size every spring, AJ keeps getting bigger. Still, I should be grateful that I can�t measure AJ�s daily increase in height in inches the way I can the daffodils.

When I pick him up to school today, we�re heading out on a shopping expedition in which we will attempt both to buy a birthday present for one of his friends and to close the ever-widening gap between his pants and feet. And also, we need some rubber boots. Because if there�s one good thing about the endless April rain, it�s puddles. And last year�s boots are too small.

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