Inch by Inch

When I gave birth to Alec, my first-born child, my world totally revolved around him. To say he was spoiled would be a total understatement. I remember my mom told me once that no matter how old he got, I would always think of him as my baby. I thought I'd always think of him as my baby because he would always be this small boy I could hold and cuddle and somewhat control.

But this week something changed -- my tiny 7 lbs, 11 oz, 21-inch baby boy somehow grew taller than me! He was so excited to point it out, stand next to me, stick his chest out and proclaim, "I'm taller than you!"



He's now 13 and thinks he's a man, but I still think he's my little boy. When he was a toddler I could do the smallest things, like make a funny face, give him a toy or a treat, and he would think I was the greatest person in the world. Nowadays it's a lot harder to impress him. I'm more of an embarrassment when his friends are around.

But the other day while we were riding in the car, I actually did something that impressed Alec. We were listening to the radio and the new Eminem/Rihanna song came on. If you would've asked me before this song came out to name an Eminem song, I wouldn't have been able to do it, but because this song is played every two minutes on the radio, I knew the words.

So when Eminem started singing or rapping his lines, I said the words along with him. I wish I would've taken a picture of Alec's face. He looked at me like I just got picked to sing a duet with Eminem live at the Grammys. His eyes were all big and he said, "Mom!"

I said, "You didn't think I could sing that?" And for a moment my coolness rating went up in his eyes. Who knew I would need Eminem's help to impress my boy.Time flies when I'm getting older and Alec is turning into a man!