Mother's Day gifts

I don't expect to be showered with gifts and cards for Mother's Day. It's not as if it's my half-birthday.

Any hints I had dropped suggested that I wanted to spend some special time as a family-of-three-waiting-to-become-four.

What did I get?

My husband gave me a Saturday evening full of Irish ceili dancing to celebrate my sister Treasa's birthday--and where my niece Julia tried to set a new record for the number of organic rice crispy treats consumed in one evening.



Then on Sunday morning, we woke up to beautiful weather.



When I came home from church, Louis ran to give me a card he had signed. "It's Snoopy," he told me as I opened it. And it was. And he had written his name in all capital letters just as Grandma has taught him. Who needs preschool when you have a grandmother like that?

Because Aunt Treasa's birthday celebration was this weekend, my sister Maureen came to town with her four children, making Louis a very happy boy. He literally ran to greet them when they arrived on Friday, and he couldn't get enough of them while they were here. He loves each one of them and on this visit it was terribly cute to watch him with Mary.

I really think this picture should have some kind of cuteness warning on it. Brace yourself.



This morning after we said goodbye to Julia, Gregory, Mary, and Paul, Louis and I took a neighborhood walk. Then we played catch and fetch and other nameless outdoor games. Louis took a stoic pose for this self-portrait.



Then, after his nap, we went to take a trolley ride--or two or three.



It was my idea, and Louis loved it. If Louis is happy, we're all happy.

My favorite moment of the weekend, however, came yesterday when we were eating lunch with John's parents. We had put together a photo album of photos of Louis and Michael for John's mother for Mother's Day, and she was flipping through it.

"Who's this?" she would ask, pointing at a photo, and Louis would look and say, "That's me!"

Then John's mother came to a photo of Michael.

"And who's this?" she asked, pointing to a picture of Michael peering up at the photographer. I held my breath. Louis is curious and interested, but he doesn't talk much about Michael, and he's not sure what to think of everything, though he likes the idea of becoming a big brother. I actually didn't think he would say anything.

Louis was playing with his cars on the table and just glanced up at the photo.

"My brother," he said matter-of-factly and went back to playing with his cars.

And my heart just melted.

You can keep your boxes of candy, romantic dinners, and snazzy new electronics.

I'm happy to say I spent my Mother's Day with Michael's big brother.