His first tooth. His first step. His first word. His first haircut. His first day at pre-school.

I remember all of my son's firsts.

Today he received his very first paycheck.

I can't even tell you how proud of him I am.

To see the look on his face this evening when he came home holding that check ... it was beautiful. He looked at me and smiled and said, "I earned it, Ma." I told him, "That's what men do. They earn their money." He smiled, gave me a big ole hug and said, "You just called me a man!"

Not really. But if that's what he heard, that's cool with me. All the early mornings, the rude customers and the sarcasm from his boss is now a distant memory. My baby got paid. I'm happy for him.

I've already given him the lecture explaining that paychecks come with responsibility. However, since it's his very first one I'm going to let him do whatever he wants to do with it.

We're going school shopping in the morning so he better want to do that.