Birthday Eve

It was four years ago today that my water broke as I was lying in bed in our little house in the desert. I got up, emailed my doctor to check in with her (and yes, this is STILL a major subject of discussion in my family), and got dressed. Then I drove myself to the hospital, knowing that the next time I returned to my house, my life would have irrevocably changed.

Interestingly, April 21 is not only the day that I went into labor with William, but also that Remus and Romulus founded Rome.

Yeah, I know. I just heard a collective "huh?" from all of you. Well, as you all know, I got an iPhone right before Andrew was born. And I've become addicted to finding cool new applications, or "apps", for my phone. One of the newest ones that I uploaded is a "what happened on this day in history" app, and I looked up William's birthday. But since it pops up on the current date, I just glanced at today before scanning forward for tomorrow's info. That's how I know about Rome. And now you know, too. Don't you feel all intellectually edified now? You can say you learned something on the Interwebs today.

But anyway. So as it turns out, William shares a birthday with a very interesting and divergent group of folks. On the list are Immanuel Kant the philosopher, Vladimir Lenin, the physicist Robert Oppenheimer, TV mogul Aaron Spelling, Jack Nicholson, Louise Gluck the contemporary poet, film guy John Waters, and Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona.

Kind of appropriate that he was born on the birthday of one of my favorite poets and of the manager of David's favorite sports team, huh? Not so sure of the significance of sharing a birthday with someone like Lenin, though. Oh well.

I just asked the soon-to-be-birthday boy how he feels about turning four years old tomorrow. "I think I'm pretty excited," he reported, before immediately chattering on about the Lego castle game that he's currently obssesed with. And then I had to listen to an earful about the evil wizard and the king and all those guys.

A better question may be how do I feel about my baby turning four years old? I feel pretty good, to be honest. In some ways, it's hard to believe that he's four, but in other ways, I'm really really glad. He may be wild and crazy sometimes (er, often), but he's really a person--a person with thoughts and opinions that sometimes really surprise and delight me.

A little while ago, he brought to me a picture that he had created from construction paper, stickers and markers. On the back, he had painstakingly written his name in blue crayon.

"I couldn't make the M for Mommy," he said, showing me the end of his name, which looked sort of like Willian, instead of William.

But he had written it all by himself. And that, to me, is a prime example of one of the things that I enjoy about watching him grow up. It's a little intimidating knowing that he's going to remember things from here on out--it raises the bar on me and my behavior, which is a little scary--but I think it's worthwhile.

Plus, he gets to experience life with a baby brother, which, I might add, he seems to be thoroughly enjoying...