Dude is now a full decade old. He decided that this year he wanted us to hide his presents. So we did. He had 14 presents to find since we split his big present into 10 little ones. He said he wanted it to be hard so we did. Yeah, it took a lot of help to find them all. He was having a good morning until it was time to get dressed for church and he realized he didn't have any clean shorts left. He was angry about it but came up with the creative solution of taping his pants into shorts. While I admired his creativity it wasn't going to fly. He begrudgingly, but dutifully pulled the legs back down. I was impressed.
Younger Dude would have let having to unexpectedly wear pants to church ruin, if not the rest of the day, at least the next few hours. I am so impressed at how far he has come in controlling his emotions. He also told us the story that Saturday night he focused himself to calm down so we could get a good night's rest. I am so proud of the incremental maturity I see in him while not letting it dampen his enthusiasm and joy. He will always be my boy of strong emotions and I truly love that about him, but now he is learning how to appropriately express those strong feelings.
And yet he remains a boy of amazing and limitless creativity and goodness. Oh how I love my sweet Dude who desperately yearns for increased independence but still holds my hand in public.
Monday, he opted to celebrate his birthday with a Memorial Day cousin party. He wanted another ice cream cake and a pinata. I paid him to make his own. I kind of love that he repurposed the head from the pinata they had this summer.
