Remember those books you got when you were pregnant, like What to Expect the First Year? Now, there's a series that ended too soon. I need one for the ninth year, preferably gender-specific.

I commented to my husband the other day that our son has turned into a little boy. He's doing these behaviors that I was sort of looking for when he was around five, which, when they didn't materialize then, I thought we'd be skipping altogether. Not so.

For example, on New Year's Eve when we gave him the party gear (funny hat, noise maker, plastic lei), he stood up on his chair and started dancing around. He was singing a spontaneous rendition of the famous Spanish song about a cockroach, complete with hip and butt shaking. The other little kids joined in, all on top of their chairs. I just sat there all, Who are you, and what have you done with my son?

Before that, we had our fresh Christmas wreath delivered on a bent wire hanger. He picked up the discarded hanger and, for the next day and a half, used it as a hook hand.

And then there was this morning, when I walked into the family room to see that his cheeks were literally stuffed with Raisin Bran.

Me: "Let me guess: you're pretending you're a squirrel."
Son: (Nods)

Stuff like that.

Come to think of it, he's always been kind of a late bloomer.