In Awe of the Awesomeness that is Captain Awesome

Woke up really early today to join the very simple celebration of Captain Awesome’s 8^th birthday overseas. For those of you who do not know, we have a 15-hour time difference from the Philippines on daylight saving time. This means, when they gathered ‘round for dinner at 7pm Manila time, I was up at 4am to “meet” them on Skype.

I’m stuck. I’ve had that first paragraph for the entire afternoon. It’s about 8pm and I haven’t got a clue on how to go on.

How do you even begin to write about a son who constantly amazes you? I’m searching my brain for a starting point and priceless moments came flashing in my mind like the images in Chuck’s head.

And I wonder…

How many babies who haven’t started talking are very expressive of what they want that caregivers can understand them?

I remember him being 2 years old singing, “We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New York” and “Baba black sheep have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, three blind mice”, and then laughing his heart out.

I wonder…

How many 2-year olds have such quick wit and sense of humor? How many of them know all the letters of the alphabet and make out their sounds?

I remember him coming out of the operating room after almost losing the tip of his middle finger when he was 3 [still] singing, “I like to move it, move it. I like to move it, move it. I like to [bigger voice] move it!”

How many 3-year olds can be that brave? How many 3-year olds know the colors of the rainbow and complain that he couldn’t find indigo in his box of 8? How many 3-year olds strike up conversations with people from everywhere? Kinda scary, though.

How many 4-year olds start reading 5-letter CVCs, count to 100 without losing focus (now that’s good attention span – I wonder where that all went now, though…LOL), do basic math, support his “decisions”, analyze cause and effect, can tell by just looking at the pictures whether a dinosaur is an herbivore or a carnivore, know that spiders are not insects, but an arachnid, and get chosen to do speeches at school programs?

How many 5-year olds call Jimi Hendrix the “Guitar Hero”, sing his dad’s songs, listen to rock music, know animal classifications without mistaking dolphins and whales as fishes, tell time from an analog clock, text message, memorize phone numbers and brave being alone with his little sister when that evil of a nanny left them and ran away?

How many 6-year olds get admitted to one of the country’s top academic institutions and become one of the boys to nab the highest possible award for the preparatory level? How many 6-year olds ask you if you’ve eaten and give you the last piece of pizza if you hadn’t? How many 6-year olds would tell you quite articulately that you hurt his feelings after having been scolded for a misdemeanor and humbly ask for your forgiveness? How many of them ssshhh their little sisters (or brothers) and their dads when they find you stealing a few minutes of sleep?

How many 7-year olds bring home at least a 94 and a B+ in every subject, and a general average of no lower than 95 the whole school year? How many of them kiss you on the forehead when you’re sad? How many of them refuse to sleep beside you because they might kick you? How many of them shake the hand of a foreign visitor when they’re introduced? How many of them, all of a sudden, start conversing with their grandfathers about albatross and all these golf terms that I don’t even know about? How many of them understand that you have vertigo and wouldn’t push the cool Disneyland roller coaster ride issue?

There are so much more and all these questions do not even showcase how impeccably great he is. I started calling him Captain Awesome when I got hooked on Chuck (where the protagonist’s sister’s boyfriend is fondly called Captain Awesome) because the more I heard this nickname being said in the TV series, the more I think of my son. Because he is.

Well, the answer to the above questions could probably be “millions”. I just happened to have met just ONE. Little Princess has bragging rights of her own, but let’s save that for her birthday post.

This one little person who came into my life at the most unexpected time, in the most tumultuous of relationships has brought so much pride that I wish every mother could feel. His accomplishments promise that he’s going to be a great citizen of the world, a valuable player, a major contributor. His first being the glue that held two confused young parents together, inspired them to be better persons and fight, for whatever it takes, to keep the family. He makes every young mother like me hold her head up high amidst the judging looks and gossips of teachers, fellow school-parents, neighbors and, sadly, family members.

At the same time,  though, when I look at him, when I browse through his pictures, when I watch his videos over the years, I feel humbled. Deeply humbled.  And I ask God, what good deed could I have done in this life to deserve him?

a little over a year old @ one of the neighborhood burger joints 2003