How can this be?

Today, at 4:43 pm, I officially become the mother of two teenagers.
Yes, today is my little man's - S - birthday. He is over the moon excited about it being his very special day.
I guess that is the one joy of having a child with Aspergers - he's not all cool about it, saying something like, "Yeah, it's my birthday - it's just another day..."
Instead, he is just beaming whenever anyone says anything about it being a special day, and he was talking a mile a minute this morning, which is always an indicator that he is excited.

When S was born, he resembled the A-man right away, but the personalities were immediately and obviously different. It was almost like he knew that I had another small person to care for, and when it was time to eat, he would cry, but it was almost like a "hey, I'm hungry over here - you know, if you have a second..." He was a far more patient baby.

The year S turned one, we started taking the boys camping every weekend. S would happily sit in his little stroller, and was content with where ever I put him. My mom once commented that S was going to write a book entilted "My life from a stroller seat" because he was always just so happy sitting there grinning at everyone.

As he got a wee bit older, I realized that S never just did things. You could almost watch him observing his older brother to see how HE did it - after a while of watching, he would then try it, and do whatever it was perfectly. He showed us, even then, that he wasn't much of a risk taker when it came to something new. My theory then was that he would be the type of kid that would observe what others did wrong, then say "Okay, you don't wanna get caught? Here's what we have to do..." My little schemer...

We had one HECK of a time with potty training. He simply refused to do it. It took my Dad telling him that he couldn't go fishing in the boat because diapers scare the fish. The next day, he pushed the diaper away and said "Nope - they scare fish," and he never wore one again! Showed his stubborn side early, too.

S is a very happy boy, for the most part. He has these cute little elfish ears, and a wee heart-shaped face. His eyes are a true window to his thoughts. Bright and shiny most of the time, but when he is turning in to a little black rain cloud, the eyes are the first to darken over.
That is why I was always confused when the school would comment that he seemed to get angry out of the blue. If you watch his face, it is never out of the blue - you can read it a mile away.

S wears his heart on his sleeve all of the time. He is excited about everything, and everyone. Everyone he meets is a new friend, and he rarely sees bad in anyone.

Happy Birthday S. I can't believe you are a teenager now!
I love you!