Today is my son's fifth birthday. Like many kids his age he's generally a blur to us - he dashes and crashes around the house, cheating death all day. Every day that goes by without a visit to the ER is a good day for us.
But once in a while I get a glimpse of a thoughtful young man hidden beneath that Tasmanian exterior, like the time I told him a story about my pet rooster Joe. When I was three my dad took Joe out behind the woodshed and "taught him how to fly", and then we ate Joe that night for dinner. (In an ironic twist - which my dad apparently didn't appreciate - Joe was named after my own father Joe Parsons.) Grant didn't react to the story at the time but several days later when I was putting him to bed he asked me seemingly out of the blue, "But did you feel sorry for your chicken?"
I did. I still do. I'm happy that thought would occur to him.
Happy Birthday Grant!
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Happy Birthday to rapidly growing young man.
Thats an amazing picture. Don't tell you you took it :)
Posted by Shubho on April 07, 2008 at 10:02 AM CST #
Happy birthday to him as well!
And, wow, what a great photo!
Posted by Robs on April 07, 2008 at 08:48 PM CST #
Thanks guys! Grant celebrated big tonight. Started with dinner at his favorite restaurant (McDonald's) and ended with cake at our house with 5 of his friends from preschool. I'm beat!
Shubho, I wish I could take credit for the picture. It was taken at a studio here called Baby Angel. They take really nice pictures.
Posted by melanie gao on April 07, 2008 at 09:20 PM CST #
How old is the girl? 7 years old? what cute kids you have!
Posted by Ada on April 07, 2008 at 09:57 PM CST #
Happy Birthday, Grant! Wow! 5 years old. He's a big boy now.
Posted by Pam on April 07, 2008 at 10:51 PM CST #
Happy Birthday Grant! I suspect that the rooster didn't learn the flying lessons properly. If it had done so, wouldn't have ended up being dinner for the Parsons family!
I am sure Grant will give you more of "The way kids see it" (Reader's Digest)moments. :-)
Posted by Madhan Kumar on April 08, 2008 at 02:26 AM CST #
Reminds me of the old Arlo Guthrie song about the goose named Al... "Then mom brought him in, I remember her grin, stuffed with his feet pointed straight. I'll never forget the night that we et Al off of the old yellow plate."
That song sticks in my mind partly because my dad's name is Al!
Posted by Deirdré Straughan on April 16, 2008 at 11:46 PM CST #