This is Patrick. He's a special boy. Special to me for various reasons. He can beat me in pretty much any video game at 4. He's a fellow Dolphins fan, who faithfully cheers on Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams every week (he's convinced that every play should be Ronnie throwing to Ricky from the wildcat offense—yes, he knows what the wildcat is. He's a far more consistent and level-headed golfer than I am. He's one of my godsons; he's also the definition of "awesome." Why? Because I say so, of course. Patrick's got a new little brother, Grayson, over which he's protective and loving. He's pretty proud of his brother, who arrived 7 weeks early in good health but couldn't come home for a while.

These are from a recent and annual family photo shoot. I really love the series of photos together, and I daresay this is my favorite composition of the year. Patrick is old enough now to know what's going on, what Uncle Bob is doing and why the camera's out. He's also infinitely curious about everything ... "what's that for?" and "can I turn the light on?" He's a helper. He's my buddy. Love this guy. Hey, who wouldn't?