At-man got his high-white belt today, thus marking his first successful “test” in karate. He broke a board with his tiny foot and I swear I got all misty. It was white pine, with no knots…but still…he broke it all by himself. He sat in number 1 position and said “YES, MAMME!” at all the right times. He got a little plaque, a certificate, and his new belt, but the best part, he got to keep the pieces of the first real board he ever broke.

We have spent the rest of the day reassembling the board so he could re-enact the breaking over and over again for Grand mommy, Granddaddy, Catherine, and whoever else would watch.

Em decided if At-man could do it, so could he. He would put his chubby little hand on the wall for balance and kick his foot at the board yelling YII_HII_AWAAK! D would fling the 2 pieces into the air and Em would jump up and say HUURAYEE! Imagine my security knowing I will have not one, but two black belts in tow every time I go to the grocery store just a few short years from now.

Today was also the 40th anniversary of our preschool. D actually went there so you know it’s old as hell. Our 21 year old niece attended in the 80’s, and now At-man and Em rule the halls. It’s pretty cool when you think about it. I grew up moving all over the place so the fact that his family has such permanence blows my mind. There was a party with two jumpy castles. Holy crap Batman! Could it get any better than that to a 4 year old? I don’t think so. I tried to take Em in the castle but since it was overwhelmingly obvious I was the only one having any sort of fun we ended our session pretty quickly. They also had cake, and since I have been told by about 20 people this week that I need to put some weight back on, I saw the cake as somewhat of a window of opportunity. However, I learned a valuable lesson today. Never get too attached to a cake presented at a church… to a room full of old people. That cake was over faster than Nick and Jessica, and I didn’t even get a whiff. However, even lack of cake couldn’t take away from a party with TWO JUMPY CASTLES!

All the destivities proved to be too much for At-man. He passed out the minute his head hit the pillow. I stayed in the room to snuggle with him long after I would have usually snuck out. His hair is getting so long; I like to lay there running my fingers through it. I know he won’t let me do it for much longer, he’s turning into a little boy so fast and there isn’t anything I can do about it other than savor the moments when he still lets me treat him like my baby.

Besides, Em has taken to having long and engaging conversations with himself in his crib at night and I didn’t want to miss out on his rendition of “The Gettysburg Address” spoken using only the words Elmo, ni ni, Halahhthhtt, and bye bye. It’s pretty amazing, I have to say. Sometimes I wonder, “What if Em is speaking fluent Esperanto and I don’t even realize it? Maybe in Esperanto, “Elmo” means “My mom kicks ass!”. Who knows?

Right now my high-white belt is snuggling with his stuffed elephant in his big boy bed, and my little marshmallow is dreaming of Elmo just a few feet away. I can’t imagine Saturdays ending any better.