Today was our son’s fourteenth birthday. Fourteen years. I can hardly believe that this cutie who arrived in our lives when he was six days old is rapidly becoming a man. In the same way that we anticipated his first word, his first step, we now anticipate his entry into puberty and all that accompanies that major milestone.

Although the voices of many of his friends have deepened, his hasn’t yet. Although many of his friends have shot up in height, he’s still growing at a slow, albeit steady pace. He’s still the morning person of our family, waking up with a cheerful smile on his face hours before everyone else in the family (this morning he attended a 1 ½ hour basketball workout at 7 a.m.!). He’s the easy-going yet high-energy kid he’s always been; willing to help out with chores, obsessed with Game Cube, anxious to play any sport that enters his field of vision.

We’ve held off on buying new school shoes until now for fear that his feet will grow another size or two before school starts in September. I think we’ll be safe to invest in school shoes and cross-country running shoes this weekend – if we get them a bit large.

As always, he eagerly anticipated his birthday for weeks in advance. Some things never change. He wrote and then rewrote his gift wish list; he wrote and then rewrote his party schedule. Best of all, he did the calling to invite his friends to his party this year. He called and called and called (summer is such a hard time to be born!) until he reached his friends and got firm commitments from them to attend his party (which will be this coming Tuesday, as everyone’s gone this weekend).

So today we just took it easy. While he was at basketball, I wrapped presents and then his younger brother hid them all over the house – among the books on the bookshelf, in the microwave, under a stuffed animal. Both boys delighted in the scavenger hunt; sounds of “cold…warm…warmer…hot…boiling!” wafted throughout the house as the search went on.

For dinner, we had our son’s favorite: barbequed ribs. He decided he wanted a cheesecake instead of a traditional sponge cake this year, so he helped me bake a mocha cheesecake. It was delicious, if I do say so myself. During dinner, we all shared our most memorable moments of the first 14 years of his life.

Early this morning, our son’s birth mom e-mailed him to wish him a happy birthday. I called her this afternoon to finalize plans for her yearly lunch/clothes shopping expedition that she’s taking with him this Sunday. Knowing that in years past, his birthday has been an emotionally difficult day for her, I asked her how she was doing. “Fine,” she said. “Other than the fact that it took me about a month to mentally prepare myself that he is turning fourteen. FOURTEEN!”

“His birthday and Mother’s Day used to be tough for me,” she added, “but he’s fourteen years old. I’ve gotten over it.” Meanwhile, her 1-year-old was hollering in the background, wanting to say “hello” to whoever was infringing on her “mommy time.”

They say that your kids grow up in the blink of an eye. They tell you to treasure every moment because they slip away all too fast. When our son was a toddler, I didn’t believe that theory, because it sometimes seemed as if every day lasted a lifetime. But 14 years later, looking back, I realize just how fast his growing-up years are zooming by.

Sometimes, I wish I could stop time and freeze him in each delightful stage of his life. But then, that wouldn’t allow him to grow into the man he’s becoming. So I’ll continue to watch and participate and marvel, and most of all, love.