(theo celebrating his third birthday with a chocolate cupcake)

my son turned seventeen a few months ago. while i am no longer planning big themed parties with magicians or puppet shows or the olympics or pajamas i do still decorate the house, make his favorite breakfast (poofy pancakes) and plan SOMETHING. i love doing this and get super excited at the approach of these celebrations, even though he only begrudgingly poses in a birthday hat for photos now. but this year i was bummed in the same way i get when one of my own “big birthdays” arrives (40, 50, 60 - sixty hasn’t come yet, PRAISE JESUS! but i am already dreading it.) it hit me that next year will be his last birthday at home before he goes off to university and i just felt gutted.