By Fernie Ruano Jr.
His tiny hands swinging violently, his meaty legs swinging in every direction, ‘Little’ Alex, tears welling up while trying to unstrap himself loose from his baby carrier, tucked safely between a leather couch and sofa, was letting us know he didn’t like to be restricted, even at seven months.‘Little’ Alex cried, cried and cried, no matter if you showed him the milk bottle, swung a plastic toy over his head or tickled his feet. He would swing and wiggle his torso, whenever you dared picking him up because he knew eventually you were going to put him back in the baby carrier.
And my girlfriend would laugh nervously, whenever she wasn’t doing everything possible to get ‘Little’ Alex to stop crying, and help me. And I couldn’t stop laughing either, whenever I wasn’t smiling or shedding tears, since I could barely hide the joy of being an uncle for the first time. There were plenty of times during Alex’s first nine months of life that I would hide in the bathroom because I didn’t want anybody to see my outpouring of emotion, only to routinely hear my girlfriend say, “Babe are you alright?”
It’s been ten years now since Little Alex cried as if he was taking his last breath, and ten years too, since I would hide tears of joy because I was trying to calm the wailing of a baby I can’t believe I was holding.
Well, ‘Little Alex’, or ‘Little Man’ as I’ve always called out to him, turns 10 on Sunday, September 7.
He doesn’t cry as much anymore; in fact, I’ve probably cried more in the past seven years than he has. His reddish cheeks are now bronzed and filled; his frail arms are now chewy and hardened, much like his legs.
His joyful and spontaneous demeanor, even at nine and 363 days, lights up a room and makes a day, at least mine whenever he’s a part of it. His habits are comical and at times you never see them coming, but all the while refreshing and purposeful. Alex not only defines “Happy”, but is truly a ‘Happy’ kid. He even sings about being “Happy”. 
Sometimes our road in life doesn’t take us to the brightest of places, but my nephew always turns on a light inside of me, whether it’s playing football out front, filling a sticker album or watching a game; no matter how empty or dark I might feel inside.
I, along with approximately 100 family members and friends, will be celebrating a his birthday at a sports and entertainment establishment near you, because ‘Little’ Alex will probably be in the mood to chase around some of his buddies and cousins, play some pinball machine game I’ve never heard of, eat pizza and guzzle soda as if he needed the sugar, badly.
He might even have time to stop for a few seconds amid all the madness and answer the only question I’ll probably be able to ask him,“Do you know I love you, kid?”, with one of his favorite words: Seriously?
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