Thanksgiving...what are you thankful for?

I'm Thankful for Kristofer.

Have y0u ever met the most hilarious child in the world? I bet not. I bet not. You know how I know? Kristofer is the most hilarious child in the world.

I met Kris when I was 20, he was about 12 months old. I remember it vividly because he hadn't gotten his first hair cut yet. Actually it was the first time I'd met any of Matt's family. Only a couple of years before they had suffered the loss of his Aunt. Aunt Wendy. She had a pretty long struggle with cancer. And after Wendy passed away Matt's mom had a little "whoops" with her husband Tom. So Matt and Kristofer are 19 years apart. And Kristofer is the little miracle that family needed. The little miracle that helped them grieve Wendy. The little miracle that makes them miss Wendy, and remember Wendy at the same time. So that's when I met Kristofer- when everyone was still in awe of this little miracle. He could barely say my name. Back then he called me Wenda. Back then he used to make me hold him on my hip so he could throw his head backwards. Back then he would laugh and laugh and laugh...and nobody knew what the heck he was laughing at because he still made nonsense noises.

Today Kristofer is 5 years old. He goes to private school. He stands at the car at 8am and waits impatiently for his dad because he doesn't want to be a minute late for school- "DAD! We're GONNA BE LATE!!" He reads on a 3rd grade level. He knows all of his capitols *i don't think I know all my capitols* and he picked up matt's blackberry, found brickbreaker and started playing it like he'd done it all his life. He still wanted me to chase him around the basement with a toy gun when we were playing cops and robbers. And he still sat in my lap like he was a little baby...but he's not. He's almost a big kid.

I'm not a kid person. I like to see kids....oo they're so cute...but I'm better off not holding them or interacting with them. Frankly, kids kinda annoy me. Babies make me nervous, and tweens just make me crazy. I don't volunteer to babysit because, I mean really? Me babysit? I'm not a kid person, But I AM a Kristofer person...and I love that kid with all my heart. Maybe its because he's kinda weird. Kinda out there.

Example...When Kris was like 3:

"HEy, come here - you wanna see my repartment?" - he said to Matt and David (Matt and Kris's eldest brother), "yes, yes, yes, come see my repartment!"- he motioned to them. Kris calls the unoccuppied bedroom in his house his "repartment." In the room he has a kitchenette play station, the treadmill as his "carport," a blow up mattress as his bed, and a desk with his very own nonworking telephone. So he has a repartment. And everytime you come to visit you have to hang out in his repartment. "Hey David, come closer. I want you to see my kitchen," Kris says. So David leans closer and Kristofer turns around with a fake pastic kitchen knife in his hand! "Ha, ha haaa Now I'm going to kill you." David leans back, kinda freaked, "uh, you're creepy little dude." After many creepy things Kris had done that day Matt asks him, "Kristofer, where do you get this stuff?" Kristofer snaps out of it for a second, looks at him straight in the face and says, "I dunno, It's weird isn't it?" UH CREEPY!

If that's not evidence enough of his weirdness - he once told the waiter at outback, "I'm gonna eat you with barbeque sauce!" UH CREEPY.

When I went with matt's fam up to Buffalo, NY Kris was still under the age of 2. I would find him talking to himself in the kitchen about his aunt Wendy who died before he was born. CREEPY!

And one of my personal favorites of the creepy stories:

One day Kris was playing in the garage at his grandmother's house. Grandma Hubert comes outside, she's wondering what Kris is doing because he's yelling into a fake telephone. "Who are you yelling at honey?" Grandma Hubert asked "God," Kris replied. "Why would you be yelling at God?" Grandma Hubert asked. "Well, I wasa yelling at God to let aunt Wendy to get back here so you won't be sad that she's gone anymore." AAAWW, so sweet...but soooo CREEPY!

And So I'm thankful for Creepy little Kristofer. The coolest kid I know. And the most hilarious. I sometimes wonder if we're kindred spirits.