The near perfect day!! Indulge me. I am a sentimental mommy. :)

Tweet

My son turned 4 yesterday. The day was nearly perfect in everyway. We woke early for some playtime with daddy before he went to work. We used to do that more often and have been slacking, so it was a huge treat for my son. Then he had an ice skating lesson. The child loves learning to ice skate. He is not good at all yet but he thinks it is huge fun to keep trying. After that he wanted a chocolate milk from Starbucks and he wanted to drink it inside...... so cute how very specific he was about wanting that. The town I live in has 14+ Starbucks locations and all but one have drive thrus, we usually drive thru. He made friends with EVERYONE in the coffee shop and ended up receiving a free cookie for his birthday. Later, he had a friend come over to play with his new toys with him. I loved giving the mother of his visiting friend sometime to herself while making my son so happy with a playmate. I gushed with pride at how well he shared all his new toys and worked out 'taking turns' on his own, without my help. We had mad, crazy, exciting games of Hungry, Hungry Hippo and made many fire rescues with his new ladder fire truck. The phone rang off the wall as everyone in my family called with well wishes for the birthday boy. By the end of the day, he would even ask me if it was for him when he heard my laptop say I had a message. I talked online with several friends and family as I observed his developing social skills in action and hoped that one day he will value friends/family as much as I have grown to. My best friend and her family were scheduled to come to dinner. Her son is two but our boys play so well as if there were not a day of age difference between them. So determined was I to have a laid back, quality-time day, that I spent my free time on Sunday preparing his birthday meal so that I would not allow myself to get caught up in entertaining. Dinner with friends was amazing as conversation flowed so naturally and we laughed until we cried on at least 3 occassions. Then, the mom thing happened...... the boys were being too quiet. We snuck in to find them surrounded by toys on the floor, PBS Kids television in the background and they had leaned back against the couch to watch. Both were sound asleep sitting straight up and my son had his arm around my friends son. We must of 15 pictures of that moment between the two of us. Lol! As I put him to bed, the last thing he said to me was, "Mommy, I loved my birthday. Can I be four again tomorrow?" I lay on the floor in his room, staring at the ceiling waiting for the sleep breathing to come and tears filled my eyes. It had been exactly the day I wanted for my son. He will have a party with all his friends this weekend but my heart knows that the value of this day, well spent, will mold him the most for the year to come. So, my near perfect day begins and ends with knowing my son is happy, is peppered with connections with people who matter to me, includes doing nice things for others and stands out as an obvious expression of growth for me as a person. Last year I got so caught up in the details of his birthday that I wasn't sure I had taken the time to just enjoy my son. http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/1278744.aspx I have come a long way my dear myLotters. I am very proud of myself and my near perfect day. What does a near perfect day look like to you????????? Do you have a special day you feel like sharing with us all?