Day 11-Something people seem to compliment you the most on

If we are going with the current day to day cosmetic compliment, it would be my weight loss since I have lost roughly 60 lbs in the last 8 months or so.  It is now becoming a more dramatic change, however when I started this challenge I said I wasn't going to focus on the cosmetic, or "easy" answers like this one.

So if I were to delve deeper, the thing that people seem to compliment me the most on would probably be Gunnar.  I am often told what a good child Gunnar is.  How well behaved he is and well mannered.  He is not shy and is happy to hold a conversation with an adult, be it a soldier in uniform, or the person standing next to us in line or my grandfather.  He takes great interest in technical things like building rockets with my dad, Lego's by himself, a volcano with Curt or watching the science channel instead of the Disney channel (at his request).

Gunnar has straight A's and his reading is absolutely stellar!  He is continuously getting 100% on his weekly spelling tests and also doing phenomenal in math.  I can assure you the math and spelling cannot be attributed to myself OR Curt, so I'm not sure where that is coming from, but we are both so proud!

Although Curt and I are Gunnar's parents, and yes we taught him the basic manners of please and thank yous we don't feel that we can take full credit for the wonderful child we have.  We were blessed with having a very easy child from birth.  I think this was our gift for going through such a difficult pregnancy, but that's just my thought.  Gunnar has always been a very affectionate child.  That, Curt and I will take full credit for.  We are both very affectionate people, and are happy to have a child who is not concerned about showing his love for others.

As for Gunnar's general goodness, I truly believe it is just something that he was born with.  Something that is a God given trait, just like his father.  He is a great kid, and I don't think that we can really take credit for much more than teaching him the basics.

That being said, G-man is by no means perfect, please do not take that away from this.  He is still a 6 year old boy who gets too wild, who talks too much, who interrupts when I'm talking and can't keep his hands to himself, but he's a BOY!  If that's the least of my worries, I think I have it pretty easy.  He still gives me hugs and kisses when I drop him off in the morning.  He is still thrilled to see me when I pick him up in the afternoon.  He still asks me for "luvin" time in the evenings or on the weekends.  I know this won't last forever, so I cherish these moments while they do last.

So as nice as it is to hear that I look good because I have lost weight, knowing that I am raising a kid who is a good human being will last a lifetime, and that's what this is all about.  I just hope we can continue on the same path with the little man.  He's an amazing kid, but we have a lot of challenges yet to face.  I have complete faith that with Curtis by my side Gunnar will become a wonderful man, husband and father, just like his dad.  Who knows, maybe even a soldier too...time will tell.