Flight

He's always been the high-flying type... the only thing that's changed since Gavin was a baby, is the degree to which he attempts to fly. He's always trying to be faster, higher, more fun than previously. (He has the bruises on his shins to prove it too.) Sometimes it seems as if he is on a quest to liberate himself from the confines of gravity.

Some things never change. He's been like this from the very start... he went right from rolling over to sitting up to walking and we've been chasing after Gavin ever since. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Yes, he wears me out. Frequently. But it's who he is. I love him to pieces for the very same reasons that I get so frustrated with him. That sounds strange to say, but it's true. I love his feisty nature, quick whit and the fact that he's smart as a whip... until those things stand between what I think Gavin should do/say/consider and what Gavin thinks he should do/say/consider.

I've always treated Gavin older than his chronological age. But things are different now... my mom-sense has been tingling... he's changing and becoming more mature. (Most of the time.)

We find our tall, lanky kid remaining to be very outgoing and gregarious, although it's tempered a bit with some shyness now. Maybe he's even embarrassed by his parents from time to time? And yet, I don't think he's quite ready to give up being our little boy... He shows us that, when he holds my hand in the grocery store parking lot or puts his arm around my waist as we walk, when he asks to sit on my lap or curls up under a blanket with me. That's when I long for my high-flying boy to freeze. If love could make the world stop spinning, the minutes would stretch on and on... I would freeze things for a few seconds more, so that I can soak it all in.

As is only natural, he slips his hand into my own on fewer occasions. Although I can almost feel the way his little hand used to feel in my own, when as a small boy... he'd squeeze my hand as he marched along next to me.

No matter how fast and how far he flies... I hope Gavin feels as though he can still do that as he grows up... Maybe he won't... But a mom can hope.