The Manly Essence

My mom sent me some pictures today of when we were down for the Fourth of July. This one of my son is just amazing.

The kid has been shaving facial hair since he was twelve. This summer he decided he wanted to let it grow. The picture was from a month ago, and it's twice as heavy now.

My little baby boy is almost a grown man. At least he looks somewhat like it here. It amazes me when I think of what he's been through and how far he's come. His manly essence is starting to show itself. I think he's proud of the fact that he's one of only a handful of guys in his school who can even grow a beard. Gets it from my dad, I suppose.

Next Friday he starts school and is looking forward to showing off his new look. Things are changing so quickly now that at times I can barely keep up. Can't imagine what it will be like by the time he is a senior.

I'll have to ask my sisters about that one.

Back To School Shopping

Well, it's that time of year again. We set aside time today to do my son's back to school clothes shopping. He did good!

Over the last couple of years, he's gotten into a style that is...well NO style. All he would wear was T-shirts and jeans. At least they were nice T-shirts and not a bunch of weird sayings and wicked-looking screen prints. But it just wasn't doing a whole lot for him.

So this year I set aside his allotment and told him he could buy anything he wanted as long as it wasn't T-shirts and jeans. Then I added a caveat that everything he chose had to obtain my seal of approval.

Maybe I've been watching too much "What Not To Wear" shows on TLC.

But anyway, we discussed some ideas the last few weeks and I gave him some guidelines about what would look good on his frame. He's got a very broad chest, no hips, and long skinny legs. It's been a real battle to dress him all his life.

He decided on a variety of cargo pants to compliment the jeans he already owns. Then he got this denim shirt and cuffed up the long sleeves like a jacket over a tee. It looked so awesome on him! He even found this great olive flack jacket that looks soooo cool with the cargoes. There's a variety of colored button shirts he can either wear alone or with a tee. We even found this black Calvin Klein shirt (on sale!!!) that is tailored and fits him like a glove.

Tomorrow we're going to try out a black vest that he wanted really bad but they didn't have his size at the east store. They called the west store and they're holding it for us to stop by tomorrow after church. I'm really looking forward to seeing how it looks on him tomorrow.

And miracle of miracles, he even picked out a polo shirt that he really liked. I used to dress him in cute polos when he was younger. He'd gone through a period where he refused to wear any, so I stopped buying them. It's really good to see him trying a new (old) style again, especially when he looks so nice in them.

Maybe someday I'll find a style again too.