The Incredible Hulk

He looks up and grins at me through the gleam of those six pearly whites. This, in a mother’s heart, means ‘I love you, mommy.’ My heart melts. I am keenly aware that I am looking into the face of my present, my past, and my future, all at once. He is my son, who grew inside of me for nine months.

Now, nine more months later, I see how much he has already changed and I take stock of the person that he is becoming. Though, when I look at my son, I am usually reminded of how much he is like his father…his sheer determination, an ingenuity about things that were never taught to him, eyes that utterly capture his soul, and an intensity about him that screams ‘I’ll do what I want’ and ‘I’ll never let you down.'

Like when my son decided last week that his crib wasn’t going to hold him back any longer and simply climbed out of it. I was down stairs making his morning bottle and I heard a thump. I dismissed it because Jeff and my nephew were up stairs at the time and it could easily have been a commotion caused by either of them. But then I heard Skylar announce that Colten had climbed out of his crib! Of course, I dropped everything to run up and make sure he was alright and then to console him as only mommies can. But that little guy hardly even cried. He was just ready to go.

All you’d have to do is talk to the ladies at his day care to know what a determined little spitfire he is. I don’t believe that it is any coincidence that he started crawling the following week after a few of the older babies in his class did. He saw them cruising around on all fours and decided that he wanted that same mobility and freedom.

Now he is walking. Those first few wobbly steps were incredible! I videotaped them and called everyone I knew to spread the news. But now, he is really walking. This morning he caught me off guard when I saw him walk up out of the corner of my eye. For a split second I wondered who/what it was, because 'my little guy crawls'...not anymore. (Well, I don't want to get ahead of myself, crawling is still the trusty secondary means of transportation for him.) For several weeks there, I was his personal walking cheerleader. I'd stand him up and encourage those wobbly steps in my direction. I think that walking was merely a passing fascination for him at that point. But somewhere between then and now, he has joined the rest of the two-legged, upright world. No longer does mommy need to offer that step up or the constant encouragement, now he simply walks because he wants to.

Even in my tummy, my baby never stopped kicking and wiggling around. I joked then that he would be just like his father. Because, once we learned of the pregnancy and the distinct possibility of having another Little Jeff, the stories began. Story after story, my apprehension grew. After all, haven't we all heard our parents say...'I hope you have a kid just like you some day!' Now I am distinctly aware that whatever he’s paying for, I am too.

To illustrate my point, I will pass on my favorite story of Jeff as a child...

He and a friend were bored one day and somehow got their hands on a can of green spray paint. The logical decision, apparently, was to paint their entire bodies green and terrorize the neighborhood. Door-by-door they knocked and screamed 'roar,' while making muscles like the Incredible Hulk whenever the unexpecting residents answered. Then, to get the paint off, they jumped in a neighbor’s pool. You can guess the tell-tale sign that they left behind, which soon led the angry neighbor to Jeff's parent’s door.

To see Jeff reflected in Colten makes me love them both even more, if that were possible. To be honest with you though, I was, and still am, a little nervous about Colten being another Little Jeff. Because all of those traits that I mentioned can be so admirable in a man and so cute in a baby, but can produce big trouble in a child…