Happy Birthday, Nico!

It has felt like I have had a teenager in the house for the last six months but today, it is official...Nico is 13. I thought about posting about his labor and delivery or how difficult his first six months of life were but I don't want to think about that today. In light of the events on vacation, I feel like remembering the happiness Nico has brought to my life. All of my kids make me laugh but Nico is by far the funniest of them all.

As soon as he could walk, whenever he'd hear the theme of Dragon Tales, no matter where he was in the house, I'd hear him run through the house to get in front of the tv and dance to the music.

As soon as he could form a sentence, he would call me every morning the same way. "Mooommmmy! I goooot pooooo pooooo! Come and chaaaaaange me!"

When he was about 2, we were in a park district class where they played Disney theme songs and the teacher would yell out different things to do like, "Run around the circle!" Then the song would change and she would say, "Hop around the circle!" My lovely son refused to do anything that the teacher yelled out but instead would yell, "Lion King!" or "Toy Story!" when those themes came on. He knew every single one of them. How proud I was when the teacher said, "My, someone must really know his Disney movies."


When he was almost three, I was showing him how to pray and we did the sign of the cross and I told him how we pray for people we love. After doing the sign of the cross, he said, "Please bless Mommy and Daddy. I love them so much. Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?"

Around the same time Nico and I were at the mall with two of my sisters and they were fighting. One of them started to cry and Nico went up and put his hand on her face and said, "Come stop your crying, it'll be alright. Just take my hand. Hold it tight." It was the theme of Tarzan. His favorite movie at the time. Obviously we had an underlying theme going on. He watched waaay too many Disney movies.

When he was about 4, Leo and I were talking in the bathroom while I was doing my hair. Leo spit in the toilet and Nico looked at him and said, "What do you think you're doing? Did you just spit in my potty? I go pee in that potty. Now flush your damn phlegm so I can pee in that potty." Leo and I looked at each other shocked and Leo said, "Did he just tell me to flush my damn phlegm?"

When Nico went to preschool he got in trouble for not listening and when I was telling him what I expected of him he said, "Do you want me to be good at home or at school because I can't be good at both?" I am still suffering from that discussion because he decided it was more important to be good at school.

One time when I was picking him up from preschool, his teacher stopped me and asked me how "the dog and the hermit crabs got along?" I am sure I had the most dumbfounded look on my face and asked her what she was talking about. She proceeded to tell me that Nico told the class that his dad was the Canine Cop and that he just got hermit crabs and he was hoping they would get along. WHAT???? That wasn't all. She said she was "sorry to hear that our dogs got loose and were hit by a car." I quickly told her my child had an active imagination (for those that don't know, Leo was a mechanical engineer at the time) and that none of that was true. When I confronted Nico, he started to cry and said, "I'm sorry but I just wanted all of that to be true so bad!" Okay, I get the Canine Cop but the dogs getting hit by a car? We had a long discussion about telling stories and having to come clean after you tell them otherwise it is just lying.

He was in a little sportster class when he was 4 and loved basketball even then. The next time, he couldn't wait to play again but they were doing hockey. He looked at the hockey stick and said, "How does this thing fit in the hoop?" When I explained how it didn't, he sat and cried the whole time because he wanted to play basketball again. Another proud moment that was not funny at the time but I laugh about today.

When Nico was in 3rd grade, they had a family living unit and talked about the changes that your body goes through when you go through puberty. We were taking a walk and I asked him how that was going. The conversation that follows is still one of the funniest ones I have had with Nico.

Nico: You know it's going to happen to me next year (when he turned 9).
Me: What's going to happen to you?
Nico: You know...(here he clapped and rubbed his hands together).
Me (holding back laughter): What is that?
Nico: Mom, you know...(he clapped and rubbed his hands together again).
Me (really confused): I don't know what that means.
Nico (exasperated and rolling his eyes): Mom...(he clapped and rubbed his hands together again) you know...sex. They said I have to do it next year.
Me (knowing he had to have misunderstood): Ummmm...who told you that?
Nico said the name of a girl in his class that had older siblings.
Me (really tryng not to laugh): Okay, first of all, you are going to be nine so you are not going to "do sex" next year. I think what they meant is that your body might start going through changes next year but it might not happen until much later, too.
Nico (looking slightly disappointed that he was off the mark): What changes?
Me (not really believing that I was having that conversation with my 8 year old): Well, some boys start to grow hair or their voices start to change.
Nico: When did Dad start getting hair on his chest and his pits?
Me: I have no idea. You'll have to ask him.
Nico (never one to miss a beat): So when am I going to do sex?
Me (looking for the fastest way out of that conversation): When you are married in 20 years.


Even recently, just about to turn 13, he still comes up with things to make me laugh. Nico came in the house and took off his shoes. I couldn't help myself in complaining about the smell.

Me (gagging): Nico, what is going on with the feet? Is it the shoes or your feet?
Nico (throwing up his hands very confused): I don't know...I...I think something is wrong with the smell glands in my feet.


So though he is sometimes a pain in my butt and he is more stubborn than anyone I know, he can be the sweetest, most affectionate, openly candid boy I know. If he has one dollar to spend on himself, he'll split it and buy Tommy and Belle something. He's been known to be partners with someone because he felt bad that no one was asking him/her. I pray that as we enter these hard years, he remains as open and talkative with me and continues to come to me when he needs help navigating his way to adulthood. I love him so much that my heart sometimes hurts and I am so proud that he was the one that made me a mom!