My eldest turned 13 today! I’m officially the happily married mother of a teenager.

Oh my.

As the day approached, he had one simple request: “Please, mom. No front door sign.”

Ah, teenagers. I LOVE em. Especially mine.

So, I decided to honor the request and recognize it for what it is: an opportunity! When one ritual ends, another can take its place.

To respect the increasing embarrassment (“my mom is sooooo annoying!”) of my teenager, I began a new birthday-week-ritual this morning: a breakfast table display of his baby books coupled with all sorts of silly (embarrassing? absolutely!) little stories of when he was just a wee-one.

I think he kind of liked it; those eye-rolls are a teenager’s way of saying “Thanks, mom. I love you too.”

Right?