Missing: One Little Boy

A little while ago, a little boy lived here. He was 5 years old and a bit of a nut, but he was my handsome, precious boy.

A few days ago, I woke up and that little boy was gone. In his place, I found this little man instead. Notice the missing tooth. My little boy had all of his baby teeth, so this couldn't possibly be my little boy.


This young man is also doing first grade math. My little boy would have just turned 6 and only be in kindergarten, so this can't be my little boy.

This young man offered me the dollar that he got from the tooth fairy when we were out grocery shopping the other day. "Are you sure you don't want it?" he asked. "Are you sure you have enough money?" Of course, before leaving for the store, this young man informed me, "You know what I'm gonna do with my dollar? I'm gonna put it in the change machine at the store and get four quarters 'cause four quarters is more monies than one dollar." Very my little boy-ish.

This young man prays the most eloquent and thoughtful prayers. "Dear God, thank you for this beautiful day and thank you for this good food that gives us strength to serve you. Thank you for Jesus being born on Christmas Day so that he can die on the cross so we can love you and be with you. Amen." My little boy was... well, little. He sang songs like Jesus Loves Me and I'm in the Lord's Army. He wasn't so spiritually astute... was he?

This young man holds doors for people. Everyone. If he is near a door, and someone has to go through it, he'll open it for them. And hold it open. No matter how many people have to go through it. Or how cold it is outside. Or how long his family must wait for all of those people to file through the chivalrously opened door. He must hold it... for he is a gentleman. A young man.

Come to think of it, maybe he is, or should I say was, my little boy. When told he could choose to do anything he wanted on his birthday, my little boy chose to help me clean out the fridge. That sounds like something this young man would do, too. My little boy did work hard to earn his first Tiger Track beads and earn a weather belt loop. This young man certainly knows the meaning of hard work, too.

Besides, this young man, who recently built a birdhouse with Frodo, looks an awful lot like Frodo. Doesn't he? And this young man just asked Frodo if they could go hiking, and my little boy went on a three mile hike with Frodo last year. A three mile hike where he insisted on walking by himself and pointed out every stick, rock, daddy long-legs, bird, tree, and blaze along the way. And that reminds me, when we took this young man ice skating today, he too insisted on doing it by himself when Frodo offered to help him... just like my little boy with the hiking. And the roller blading. And the two-wheel bike-riding. And the scooter.


Could it be that this young man is just my little boy? My Terzo? Just grown?

Gulp.