John's birthday was Saturday, and I did my very best to give him the complete and shameless spoiling he fully deserves. After a relaxing and fun day we went to Red Lobster with the boys for dinner. John decided to get a whole lobster, partly because he's never gotten one before.

The look on Seth's face when the waiter set the plate down in front of John was priceless. And it lasted for a full 10 minutes at least, without even the slightest variation. I think I would call it stunned. Mentally, emotionally and physically stunned. He was literally frozen in unbelief; completely stunned to see a huge bug-looking creature belly-up on a platter, stunned that it was that close to us all, and stunned that John would even consider eating such a beast.

Jonathan was interested and excited to try some, and liked it, but Seth just slowly shook his head and wouldn't hear of it. He couldn't take his eyes off it. He kept an extremely tight vigil, not even blinking. I honestly think he may have been worried that if he looked away it would flip over and come after him, snapping its pinchers and waving its antennas. One can never keep too close of a watch on a big crawly thing. Even John and me laughing our guts out couldn't distract him. His expression was frozen in a mix between complete shock and intense, incredulous, wide-eyed study.

Only after John had broken it up piece by piece and hollowed it all out did Seth want to have any part of the experience. And then, when the threat had been devoured and defeated, it became cool, like a battle wound or the enemy's banner. He carried that hollowed-out claw around with him for the rest of the day, and eagerly tells anyone he sees about how they saw the lobsters in the tank, and how his dad ate one, and liked it.