Little Thomas, Big Thomas

The only thing little Thomas wanted for his birthday was a "choo-choo balloon." And I wanted to make sure that any wish he had came true on his special day.

We went to the party store and ordered up a choo-choo balloon. When I tied it around his wrist he could hardly contain himself as he jumped up and down squealing, "Choo-choo balloon, choo-choo balloon!"

I could hardly contain my bittersweet feelings as I watched the last few hours of my baby's official "babyhood" slip through the hour glass of time.

We got back in the car and I just couldn't take it off his wrist and try to explain that I wasn't taking it away from him. So we all piled in...Thomas, Hanna, myself and Thomas the Train aka Choo-choo Balloon. I got on the freeway and started hearing some quiet fussing which quickly turned into a full blown cry.

When I asked him what was wrong I got a, "Choo-choo balloon...SCARED!" I reached back and pulled the balloon towards me but it was tied to his arm. So I held it as far away from him as I could until I could pull over and take it off of him and put it in the front seat.

All the way to Christian's school he kept whimpering, "Choo-choo balloon. Scared." He told Christian all about it when he joined us and kept on talking about it until I pulled over again and put the darn Choo-choo balloon in the trunk. When I pulled it out and put it up to my face, I was a bit alarmed myself to see Big Thomas staring back at me. Freaky, isn't it?! No wonder he was scared!

All ended well though as we celebrated his big day. He waited at the door for his Dad to get home so we could eat his favorite meal...spaghetti and meatballs (although he just eats the meatballs and uses the noodles to make mustaches for himself).

Then we sang Happy Birthday and he enjoyed his cake frosting & ice cream and his gifts.

I felt my heart ache just a bit to see my little guy grow into a new phase, but I couldn't be happier at who he's becoming. I adore him in every way.

Happy Birthday Thomas!