My knight in shinging armor

By the headline of this post you are probably certain this post will be about my husband. Nope, sorry.  My knight is my Raymond.

Before Raymond made his big debut, Chad and I were flooded with amazing gifts from all our family and friends. We were inundated with baby essentials, we were wrapped up in beautiful homemade baby blankets and were knee deep in child approved toys. However, there was one gift that stood out to me from the very beginning. It was a wall hanging that my aunt had made for my little dragon boy. It's a colorful hanging that has a scene of a little knight in armor, his backup posse, if you will, and a colorful dragon lurking behind them.

From the moment I pulled the wall hanging out I knew there was something different about it, perhaps magical.

Right away, I remember, I wanted to hang it up. I begged Chad to put it up on Raymond's door for me and, like any husband who wants to keep his pregnant wife happy, he did.

Now that my beautiful son is here I find myself looking at the hanging everyday.  Every evening before Raymond gets swept away by the sandman, he and I sit in the rocking chair and rock away all the stress (for me) and bumps and falls (for Raymond) of the day. We sing songs, we say our prayers and I tell him what an amazing miracle he is.  As we rock I always find my eye being drawn to the colorful hanging.

One night it finally hit me. My son is the little knight. Before Raymond came along we called him dragon ... a name my husband had come up with based on his Chinese New Year sign. So, originally the fun thought for the hanging was that there was a dragon in the scene. However, it's clear that the dragon is just a backup character to my little knight. 

The brave little knight stands tall with his floppy blond hair falling into his big brown eyes. When I look at the knight I see Raymond. Not just in his outwardly features, but in his courage. I know you may not think a 10 month old could honestly show courage, but he does. Raymond faces new challenges everyday as he continues to learn to do things by himself and as he meets new obstacles that life continues to give him. He often falls, stumbles and cries, but he always gets back up and tries again. It's amazing to see how fearless at times our children can be. I hope he never loses that. I hope he stays the brave knight that stands before me every evening. I hope my husband and I continue to give him the tools to keep his courage and inner strength. I know he will have many more dragons to face in his life and I hope he faces them like he does every challenge he has already slain.

I love my little knight! He is my life.

Oh, and if you were wondering about why my husband is not my knight in shining armor, it's because he's my Prince Charming. (Insert awwww or silent gag now).