Thankful for Scotty

Yesterday was Thanksgiving...our first in Germany, which is pretty cool, but the best part of it was that it wasn't only Thanksgiving...but also Scott's 10th birthday. That made it about a thousand times cooler.

When I was younger, I used to hear adults say that time went so fast. I heard it so much, in fact, that I just rolled my eyes when yet another grown up uttered the phrase. I didn't get it because when you're a kid, time does not go fast. Time is strapped to the back of a very slow moving turtle and a week takes an eternity...not to mention a month or a year. Well, guess what? I'm an adult now...and it's true. Time goes fast. Too fast. Ten years???? No way. Scott was born just yesterday. At the longest...perhaps a few months ago. Not ten years. He's still little. I'm almost sure of it.

Okay. Maybe not. I need to reminisce. I need to look at those first newborn pictures when he just barely filled our arms. I need to see those impossibly chubby cheeks and bright blue eyes, the angelic smile and the adorably sticky-out ears again.

The woman on the bottom left is Dr. Watts. She delivered Scott.

Maya was the first person in the family to hold her new baby.

Scott has two namesakes. His name is Scott Louis. He gets Scott from his uncle, Kevin Scott, and he gets Louis from his Poppa, Garold Louis. Two pretty special guys.

Our first family picture.

Even before he was born, Scotty had a hard time sitting still. When I was nineteen weeks pregnant, I felt him flip in my belly. This wasn't the normal flutterings or kicks and I went to see my OB who told me I'd dilated and needed to take it easy. By October, the last month of my pregnancy, I was on bed rest. I'd been in the hospital twice with premature labor and we were all trying to get Scott to hang in there a little longer. He was anxious to get here. So much so that when it was finally time for Scott to arrive, I began pushing at 9:00 pm and he arrived at 9:07. Everyone's delivery should be this easy. He ended up only being six days early and healthy as can be. He just wanted to see the world.

Everyone told me that I wouldn't take as many pictures of our second baby as I did the first.

Little did they know.

Here's Scotty at three months...

...and then at six.

This is his nine month portrait...and seeing this for me is like the sun breaking through the clouds. I love this picture.

So much for the not taking as many pictures theory, huh?

Here's our sweet boy at a year old.

Tell me you aren't tempted to squeeze all that sweetness.

Yep...that's what I thought.

At his first birthday party, he and his uncle Kev had a very serious discussion. I'm not sure what it was about...the weather, life in general...or perhaps how he was supposed to eat his cake.

They got it figured out.

Soon after Scott's first birthday, he became very interested in the Wiggles. A lot of parents cringe when they hear that word...as for Steven and I...we actually liked the Wiggles. I knew all the words to all the songs and we even went to two concerts...one with all four of us and one just Scotty and I. The Wiggles rock.

This is at 18 months. Scott actually wasn't feeling well here but you'd never know it. He's always been a very happy kid.

Two year portrait. This sweater was a hand me down from my best friend, Deb. I loved this sweater. This is also one of my favorite shots of Scott.

Did I mention the Wiggles? Oh, yes. Here's Captain Feathersword at Halloween. I could sing for you...but I won't. You're welcome.

This is Scott living it up at Red Robin on his second birthday. He wasn't having any fun at all.

Wiggly Safari birthday. Balloons, pizza, cupcakes...who could ask for more?

This post would never be complete without a shot of the Wiggles' Big Red Car. Talk about a big deal. He had four of them. Two were remote control, (or "comote control" as he used to say) and the other two moved when you pushed on the Wiggles inside the car. When one broke, he got a replacement. (Thanks, GG!) Seriously...the Wiggles. HUGE deal.

Scotty's had a lot of favorites in his life. The Wiggles were definitely at the top of the list. He also loved a spotted leopard we bought him at the Denver Zoo when he was about 18 months old. 

His name was Spot. We're amazingly creative.

This child is too sweet for words.

Spot was pretty important. Shrek was a favorite for a while...

...we even threw a Shrek themed birthday party for Poppa. It was Scotty's idea.

Shrek and Play-Doh. Does it get any cooler than this?

Here's Scotty at age three...

...and some more of his favorite things...

Gymnastics were cool!

Gertie the rocking horse. He even got a black eye once when he tripped and fell on Gertie. Didn't matter...he loved her still.

Joey

and "The Incredibles". He made an awesome Dash

And Scooter at four...

He'd pretty much moved on from his Wiggles' phase...and into his Lightning McQueen phase. I've loved all of the things the kids have been into...and I go all out.

An invitation to Scott's birthday party

I'd say Lightning McQueen was every bit as big as the Wiggles were.

Lightning McQueen...and Spot, too.

Scotty when he turned five...

...he still loved Lightning McQueen but he also liked dragons. The whole dragon thing started when he saw Shrek and the dragon that guarded Fiona's castle. That dragon's name was...well, Dragon, which goes to show that we aren't the only ones who are overly creative when it comes to naming things.

Scott's 5th birthday party was all about dragons.

This was such a fun cake to make. Scott picked a red velvet cake. He's realistic, huh?

He even dressed as a dragon twice on Halloween.

Gramma made this costume

GG made this one. Here, he is Saphira from Eragon. He even had a broken arm here.

And speaking of broken arms...

hey...it's Spot again

...and head bonks...

He fell on a cookie. No joke. He's not too upset about it at least.

Remember when I mentioned the rocking horse induced black eye? Well here it is...

He got this in Steamboat Springs...from falling out of bed. Talented is our Scotty.

I've lost track...I can't even remember what he did here...

But the worst of all head bonks was the one that sent us to the Children's Hospital...

Could those eyes be any bigger or bluer?

This was a bike injury...and he actually had a helmet on when he fell. Our son leads with his head. 

Our third trip to the E.R. was for this...

Note to self...don't jump off of a six foot high climbing rock...

When Scott was five, he also joined his first ever swim team. He and Maya were members of the Stingrays.

He was pretty young to be a member...and afraid of the deep end. But he also loved the water and kept at it. By the end of the summer he was doing this...

...and bringing home ribbons.

Scotty's the second from the right on the bottom row. Maya's in the row above him, third from the right.

He's still a very strong swimmer and was part of the New WAVE swim team in North Carolina for nearly a year.

Something else happened when Scotty was five...

...we lost Spot. We don't know where he went. We searched GG's house and Poppa's house, Mimi's house and all the cars. We called everyone we could think of that we visited with Spot and we cleaned out the cars. We tore the bedrooms apart and looked high and low...but Spot was gone.

Scotty tried out a new buddy...his name was Growl.

He was cuddly, but not quite the same. 

Then we found Fidget.

Scott likes Fidget and he proved to be a reasonable replacement for Spot. (As a matter of fact, Fidget's upstairs in his room as we speak...although he sits on the dresser and is not a cuddle toy anymore. Scott's long since past that.)

Truth be told, Scott's over the whole Spot thing...but I still miss him. Sheesh. Good thing I got lots of pictures of him.

We lived in the town house in Littleton when Scotty turned six.

It was all about Transformers at this age...specifically Bumblebee.

And then he turned seven...

...and he stopped looking like a little kid to me

He actually celebrated both his seventh and eighth birthdays early with GG and Aunt Donna when they came to visit us in North Carolina.

Mimi and Natalie were there for number seven as well. GG's birthday is the day after Scott's. It was a dual celebration.

By the time Scott turned eight, he'd become a very good artist. Drawing had always been a favorite past time and his Poppa, who's an artist, taught him some fundamentals. He began drawing a lot of comics and telling a lot of jokes...most of them originals. 

He took several art classes while we were in Cary and entered into two contests through the North Carolina Museum of Natural History.

He was pretty crafty, too.

Joey was still his buddy. Goofy dog.

He was also pretty fond of our hamsters.

Little Leo

He and a neighbor boy named Trevor began playing together a lot...and turned out to be incredibly good friends.

I called Scott, Maya and Trevor the Terrific Trio.

Scott at nine

When Scott turned nine, we were in Colorado, spending Thanksgiving with our families. He got two parties...

One at Casa Bonita with Poppa, Kev and Boo...

...and another one with GG and Larrabee in Evergreen. We celebrated GG's then, too.

Scott's ninth year was pretty adventurous. He rode a plane from North Carolina to London's Heathrow Airport...

...then moved into a house in Linden, Germany.

He's pretty well traveled for a kid his age. He still loves to draw...

...he still tells really funny jokes and is into boxing.

He's still swimming, loves science, makes the coolest paper airplanes and is teaching himself how to play the guitar.

the tiniest plane in the world

He still loves Joey dog...and other animals, too.

Quill is a wonderful horse.

At ten, Scott is every bit as wonderful as he was on the day he was born...

He's not as chubby, and he grew into his sticky-out ears years ago...but his smile is still sweet and devilish all at the same time and his eyes are still as big and as blue.

Happy tenth birthday, sweet Scotty. We all love you more than we can say.