When one drawer closes, another opens! Yes indeed, Maridon. It certainly does. Your caption takes the cake!

Some of my other favorites were:

Lach-in-the-box by Bridget in Minnesota and Sharon.

I’m a-drawer-able! by Stacey and Christine.

Sigh. There he goes, filling his drawers again by Adrienne.

Lovely Lachlan learns where the little Legos lie by Lynnette. Have any of the others of you read my blog long enough to know what a strong penchant for alliteration I’ve long had!?

and

You put your whole self in…. by Alissa Cagle.

Nice work, guys! Those brought smiles to my face.

This photograph I took of Lachlan yesterday afternoon needs a name, don’t you think?

Won’t you help? Give this picture a clever title, nifty name or catchy caption and win* big!

*No actual prize is being offered, unless you count some beef jerky and having your name appear on my blog as the winner. Actually I ate all my beef jerky. So it’s just your name on my blog. Which can hardly be categorized as winning big. Which I why I wrote this disclaimer. Ahem.

Happy naming! Winners will be announced tomorrow!

If you’ve been reading my blog for at least, say, 18 months, then you may remember how absolutely smitten I was with Lachlan when he was a newborn. I enjoyed, savored, reveled in and cherished every single moment of his babyhood. I was so very much more present when our fifth child was a baby than I was when we just had one squinchy faced bundle. It was wonderful. I breathed him in body and soul; it was beautiful.

I am close to all of my children in their own unique ways, many ways each, as a matter of fact. But Lachlan has been my baby for 18 months now. He grew out of the blissful newborn stage I had with him. But he’s still special. He’s my littlest boy. He is the most laid back baby of any of our five. He’s often on my hip when out in public, wandering around the house doing his thing when we’re home.

But this past week?

It was like firecrackers boomed for the first time in ages, announcing an amazing new love. The earth was fragrant like after a sweet rain. My baby, my special beloved wonderful toddling baby who has been my joy for a year and a half now bloomed and burst into something new. Or, at least, I became aware of what he had become for the first time.

My special sidekick.

With all four of the big kids off to school, it was just me and Lachlan. And suddenly, he was ever so much more alive to me. Had I never noticed how much he talked before? Or did he not talk because he couldn’t get a word in edgewise? Out the window went all the things I was going to do this past week. I just basked in the glory of this newfound deepening relationship with sweet, unique, giggly Lachlan.

There was no way I could hold his hand and take the time to cross the parking lot (rather than tossing him to my hip and hustling with all the other kids in order) and not have my mind drawn back to when it was just me and Kieran. My first born and Mommy. We did everything together. I didn’t leave his side, didn’t miss one single time putting him down for a nap, was always with him until the day I went to the hospital to deliver his first little brother. We were a unit, he and I, and it was special. It was a unique bond that still exists between the two of us.

There are special bonds I have with the other children, too. And with Lachlan, or so I thought. But little did I know there was a very tangible realization that he is a little person who already loves me so much and who I need so much that would come to me during the very first week of following through on a very hard decision for me: putting his siblings in school.

There is joy to be found around every corner if we look. And last week, I found a bright, beautiful, blue eyed piece of joy right on my hip.