Z Boy

Zach’s tenth birthday was last Sunday. He is anxiously awaiting this blog entry.

His birthday festivities were more difficult to plan and execute than Abby's because it was a Sunday. It was a Dad’s House Weekend so I picked Zach up at 8am Sunday morning. We dashed home, got dressed in nice clothes and went to the Conference Center to the "Music and the Spoken Word" broadcast. My Gram Baldwin gave us tickets – they were in high demand (based on the comments on ksl.com) so we felt fortunate to be there. After the broadcast, The King’s Singers did a mini-concert that was thoroughly enjoyable.

We beat the rush for brunch at Little America, dashed home in time for church and then spent the afternoon watching movies and hanging out. Kind of lame...for the Decade Birthday...but we’d had a family party already and Zach claims to have enjoyed it. But he'd say that just so I didn't feel bad. Regardless, he'd already received the gift of his dreams: a black Nintendo DS Lite. That’s right. I buckled. All these years, I have vowed to never, ever, EVER allow gaming systems because I think they promote laziness and sedentary lifestyles (fancy wording for my REAL reason which is: Being A Gamer Makes You Lamer) however, I have changed my tune. There are many factors that played into the decision...but at the end of it all, both Zach and Abby got DS Lites this year.

The ultimate affirmation of my change of heart came at bedtime the day they opened their gifts. They’d played with them all afternoon, pictochatting (a word? I don’t know), playing each other, etc. At 8:30 p.m., it was Lights Out, including DSs (a word? I don’t know). They both singsonged, "Ok, Mom!!!" (a rarity in itself – no pleading of "Just one more chapter? Just this last page? Ten more minutes??") and then the True Wonder occurred. Zach called out to his sister from his room – "Good night, Abby! I had fun playing with you today!! I love you and see you in the morning!" Abby answered back, "I love you too, Z! See you tomorrow!"

I froze in place at the kitchen sink.

Now, my kids generally get along. They love each other, they defend each other to the death to the outside world, they can band together in defiance of Parental Influence with the best of them. However, I don’t think ten-year-old brothers and nine-year-old sisters utter "I love you!!" to each other very often. It’s just not done.

Except....that doesn’t give Zach the credit he so richly deserves. Since Zach was born, we all knew he was special. Not as in Special Ed. As in special. As he got older, his thoughtfulness, insightfulness, sweetness, gentleness and kindness manifests itself in a million different ways.

He gave his first talk in church about an Idaho potato farmer just a couple of months after he turned 3 and he had the whole thing memorized. Once, I secretly watched him tuck in his Elmo doll for an afternoon nap with such tenderness it brought tears to my eyes. He always gives up whatever he has if one of his siblings wants it – Spen has no idea how lucky he is to have a big brother who always makes sure Spen gets exactly what he wants.

Zach could read really early and has introduced us to a form of punishment that I would have never anticipated : being grounded from books. It’s painful. It’s contrary to all reason. It’s effective.

Zach reminds me of myself a lot – sometimes in those cringe-inducing ways that all parents everywhere face at some point in their parenting careers. He’s a talker. He likes to analyze every single thing down to the absolute finest detail. He gets really silly. His glasses are constantly lost, broken, whatever. He argues with great gusto, usually with me. But these are also some of the things I love most about him. He takes my attributes and Zachifies them, making them better, funnier, enjoyable.

Sometimes I see his father in him. He has 2 expressions that are spot-on his dad and it’s uncanny to see them played out across Zach’s features. He’s kind of a packrat (though nothing like Rachel, holy whip!) and he struggles to keep his desk clean. But he loves it so much when it is. Hello, Richard. He’s very tender-hearted and seems to feel things more than I would expect of a boy his age.

I can always count on Zach to fix my computer, set up anything electronic, remember any and all events in the history of our lives, notice if someone is sad, take the high road in a dispute and get in bed with me at night. He’s my number one confidante and also Child Number One (they’re all numbered, based on age, not preference. It makes it easier to summon the troops in public. Trust me.).

Happy Birthday, Z Boy. Stay this way forever. I love you.