Look! I have decent photos of Seth. Of course you know I didn’t take these and as always I have my friend Mrs. Mama to thank for documenting my kids’ lives in good photos for me.
Seth is in the midst of a massive growth spurt. When I look at photos of him that were taken just a few months ago, he looks so different from these photos. It’s weird how fast a boy can change into a young man. Seth has always been a big kid, but he definitely had a slow growth period through junior high where other boys in his class were taller than him. He spent most of his freshman year bulking up and eating constantly. Now all that bulk is stretching and stretching and stretching….and he still eats constantly. My once pudgalicious boy is turning into a huge skinny man-creature.
He still has a bit of a baby face on top of that massive body which is why I can get away with calling him Sethy in front of his friends, and the fact that he has never asked any of us to stop calling him Sethy. He has always turned bright red whenever he exercises, just one of the many benefits of being related to his father. Within a few short minutes Seth’s cheeks will be glowing and then his arms and legs and pretty soon he’s just a giant, red, sweaty thing running up and down the court. One of his team mates said, “You can’t tell how hard we’ve worked at practice by how red Seth’s cheeks are, but you can tell how hard we’ve worked by how LONG they stay red.”
At the beginning of the season there were a couple of boys that were the same height as him. As you can see he’s shot past his teammates. He’s such a large presence in the house now that I think he’s Clay when he walks into the room.
Last week I had to work at school and he had to stay after school with me.
When I was ready to go, I walked through the gym and saw he was shooting baskets. It’s so rare that I get one on one time with him, so I decided to play with him for a bit.
“I’ll guard you, okay?” I said to him as I took off my jewelry.
“Mom….I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Oh, please. You can’t hurt me! But, I get to foul you as much as I want.” said Raggedy Anne to Andre the Giant.
I spent the next thirty minutes getting bounced and jostled off my son as I tried to guard him and running into what I swear was a brick wall that looked like my son’s chest. What the heck happened to my squishy-puppy-dog of a little boy? At one point he shot over me as I tried to block his shot he ran into my arm hyper-extending it a bit. I spent the next few days with all the muscles from my cuticle to my ear throbbing.
My little boy isn’t a little boy anymore, but that doesn’t stop him from asking me to give him a hug when he’s cold, which is a bit like hugging a refrigerator…but still.
He’s going to change so much more in the next year. I’m going to have to pay more attention to him so I won’t turn around one day and see a grown man with a beard asking me if we have anything to eat in the house.
The End….with the obligatory butt smack.
Need a Chicken Doctor?
Contact 
Oooh, I just cringed when I saw who gave him the butt smack!
Jenni, I love that photo! Such a guy thing to do, they can’t help it.
I love this post! I am starting to feel this way about my 9 year old sometimes. I can only imagine what it is going to be like when he gets to high school…
Argh, you’ve got me tearing up. My kids are 3 years old and 6 months old! Your posts about your kids are an inspiration though. Great vibes.
But why DO they slap each other on the butt?
the only thing that i could think of while reading this entire post was…how can they afford to keep that boy in pants? from one mother of a growing boy to another =o)
April, So this has nothing to do with your post, which was funny and sweet, but I had a dream about you last night. It was your 40th birthday party, your whole family was there, somehow I was invited (maybe you invited the blog world), our friend Ree and her gang was there (okay, your friend, Ree…I only have the imaginary we’d-be-great-friends relationship), along with other people that I know around the world. It was definitely a modge-podge group but it was fun to meet your whole family. And Ree’s Cowboy Josh got baptized, which added to the celebration. Weird, random, but fun!
The things I never knew would be a part of parenting: hearing this manly voice and turning to look, only to realize that it’s my still-growing son…and getting caught off-guard yet again!
We call our Seth “Sethy” too. And Setharino. And when he was a toddler leaving destruction in his wake…Stealth.
That grown man with a beard, walking around the house, asking if there is anything to eat? He lives at my house, in the “man cave”. He turned 19 on Monday. I remember the growth you speak of. Pudgy to taller, taller to thinner.
My husband is named Seth and his family calls him Sethie sometimes. The rest of the world asks him his name and after a few times of him repeating himself they still can’t get it. People will say they have never heard of it. We were in a restaurant the other day and they asked his name and i told him just say Bob! Do you have this issue too?
I love watching them play sports. We have a K kiddo playing basketball and it is hysterical! Love the name Seth. One of my best friends growing up had that name….
do you have the phenomenon of starvation striking about 30 minutes after dinner is eaten?? Or the 5 minute stare into the fridge? Or all the galllllllooooons of milk disappearing???
I have a preteen with a moustache (male thank goodness !) . A swimmer. 12 years old with the calorific needs of Phelps. I will have to remortgage the house to feed him for the next few years. 10 hours of swimming M-F and 12-15 hours of meets at the weekends. Thank you to the food gods for Subway !
I know that feeling…hugging my baby boy has my head hitting his chest! When did THAT happen?
What stood out to me in these photos? That almost the whole basketball team is white guys- Boy, you sure don’t see that very often!
I miss your postings. You must be really busy.
APRIL.MUST.BLOG.MORE.PLEASE!
Where Oh Where has April gone?
Where you at? Could you post to let us know you’re all still alive and stuff.
tandblekninng med laser…
[...]c Hello! I simply want to give a huge thumbs up for the good information you az[...]…
This made me tear up. My baby boy is turning 8 next week and I am having a hard time with that. I can’t even image how I will be when he’s older.