Red, With Pockets {Homemade Christmas}

I've been so enjoying my middle boy lately.  He's 3 going on on 35, all alpha male masculinity and muscle.  He's also one of my biggest snugglers.  I've been making a recent effort to be more intentional with special time with him, usually in the form of reading something, just the two of us.  In a family this size, somewhere between school age and baby, he's at an age that can get lost in the shuffle.  I spend one on one learning time with each of my school kids, and of course plenty of nursing time with the baby, but he and I needed to make our time together a priority.  He helps me remember, of course.  If he spots me on the couch for a quiet moment, he'll come running with an armful of books and a hopeful smile.  And well, who could resist that?

He's been asking for a while now, that 3 year old of mine.  "When are you going to make me a sweater?"

He was specific - more than any of the others.  Red, his favorite color, no striping or accent colors; red, with pockets.

Honestly, a few months back when I decided we didn't really all need sweaters, and maybe everyone would just receive a hat or mittens, I half listened to his request but had no intention of seeing it through.

It wasn't until he began asking, each time he saw me knitting, "Is that my sweater?  When are you going to make my sweater?" regardless of the color or size of what I was working on.  I've since realized that little stinker was working on me, all along.  It worked and he wore me right down and one day when he was sitting nearby, I held up something bright holly red and said "Jonah, what do you think this will be?"  His smile, wide and toothy and framed by dimples, said it all.

I finished it up last night, by the glow of Christmas lights, and this morning he promised to keep his eyes shut while trying it on.  The secrecy of Christmas knits is somewhat lacking, mostly due to the fact that these little ones are with me constantly and can't really be surprised by what Mama has been knitting for the past month, but he keeps his eyes closed anyway.

"It feels warm, Mom."  His face is bright with his eyes squinched shut, and that sweater is a perfect fit, with space to grow.  He wraps his bright woolly arms around my growing middle and says "It's just what I wanted."

Well then.
 That's good enough for me.

{Sweater pattern is "The Wonderful Wallaby."  Yarn is Classic Wool by Patons in Bright Red.}


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