How A 9 Year Old Stole My Heart!
- June 26, 2014
- by Melissa Lawrence
Hello mamas! Melissa writing in as we get ready to wind up our amazing adventure in Barcelona. Big day in our house: it’s my beloved Lachlan’s 9th birthday.
Lachlan is my second child, and he arrived just 13 1/2 months after my first, Hedley. I still remember Lachlan’s sweet smiling face from a photo that graced my work desk when I returned to work after my maternity leave with him. Clad in a pair of brown corduroy hand-me-down overalls that my sister had passed on, Lachlan looked so satisfied, so warm-hearted and he’s still that way today. Friends had told me to bring a photo of him to work to help with breastfeeding, but truthfully I couldn’t look at the photo because it made me want to quit work and go home to him!
Well, here we are 9 years later. 9 wonderful years in which I’ve been blessed with this special child who is so true and so raw at times. He loves to help his sisters, he hates to loose to his brothers. When he’s unhappy, boy do you know it, his emotions pour out of his face. But when he smiles? You know that something is really really good with him. Lachlan is an economizer and careful with emotions, words, and I’ve learned recently, with money too. Which brings me to the story behind today’s video, which sees us back at Barcelona’s Barça soccer stadium to find Lachlan a very special birthday gift.
With all the talk about spoiled children in the press lately, I worry so much everyday on this trip about my kids being spoiled. They are such lucky kids — will they appreciate it? Will they work hard? Will they want to give back? How can they not take a trip like this for granted when it came so easily to them? My solutions to this aren’t necessarily good remedies to the potential problems. I make them help around the house, we eat at home (mostly), I talk about how much things cost and make sure they see me deciding NOT to buy something, and I talk about how hard Mommy and Daddy had to work to be able to do this special trip.
Lachlan, though, seems to understand all of these thing instinctively. He’s a non-consumer and surprises me with his utter lack of materialism! Whenever I buy anything, he asks “Mom, do you really need that?” “Mom, don’t buy that, save your money.” If we go to a restaurant, he argues with me that he needs more rather than less.
Since we’ve been away in Spain, I didn’t really know how to celebrate Lachlan’s birthday. Where would I get a cake and what would it be like? What kind of gift would be good? Lachlan wanted a fruit cake — a streak of independence in a chocolate house. For his gift, the boys were clamoring for FC Barcelona football shirts so we decided on that, and the fact that his brothers also would get a shirt never struck Lachlan as strange. He never brought it up and thankfully no one else did either.
People talk about how to go about creating an unspoiled child. I haven’t a clue and don’t know what eventually I’ll end up with. With Lachlan, God gave me an innately unspoiled child who only wants a little bit, and nothing too much. To me, the opposite of spoiled or not appreciating things is gratitude and I see that in Lachie. Watch him in this video so thrilled with his soccer suit and a new pair of goalie gloves. Best birthday ever, Mamma” he told me this morning, as he read his cards from his siblings. “I’m so lucky to have my brothers and sisters,” he then said. So the little baby that made me cry as he sat on my desk at work still makes me cry, with sheer gratitude that he’s my son. I am so honored to be his Mom!
Happy birthday, Lachie. And for those of you reading, please watch today’s video to see how the boys special soccer shirts got made and delivered in a very catchy fashion.
Thanks for reading and watching CloudMom, and sending much love and gratitude your way!!
xo Melissa
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