It's really getting hard to keep up with my big boy. He's going to be four in a few weeks, and his language is getting to be very clear (if a little long-winded at times, and also non-stop). Those cute little phrases and moments are oh-so-slowly disappearing. Sometimes the phrases are cute, a random verb or adjective is omitted, but the pronunciation is pretty much perfect these days. Still, there are a few moments that just make you smile . . .
"I love you, Mommy!" he says sweetly, snuggling up to me. We play this game a lot lately. He's big on telling me that he loves me and then wanting me to say it right back. If I don't, he will promptly ask, "You love Connor, too?"
"Look at books a-while?" For someone who didn't like to look at books, much less be read to, in his earlier years, he's turned into quite the book reader. I think it may have something to do with the book list for school (each 15 books read equals one trinket from the treasure box) and something to do with the one-on-one time it gets from Mommy. Little brothers, while they like to flip through books on their own, still do not want to be read to at all. It has little to do with the stories, except maybe his new favorite "The Wheels on the Truck" which is, of course, set to the "Wheels on the Bus" song. And I willingly purchased this one for him. It's oh-so-annoying, but I knew he would love it (and he really, really does)!
"I wanna watch Tee-Bee!" While I'm not real fond of this one and all that it implies, it is cute to hear in such an adamant (and also whiny) tone. The requisite "Awww!" that follows when he doesn't get his way, is even cuter. And you must envision the pouting lower lip, which he's extremely proficient with these days.
"Go to regular school today? Go to boat school today?" I hear these questions almost every day. If we're actually going to school, that's enough to silence him (momentarily). If we're not, then we have to ask about the boat school. He loves the boat school, and would probably go every day if you'd let him. We also have to point in the appropriate direction, you know, as in "Regular school this way! Boat school that way!" with arms pointing in opposite directions, which are eerily right more often than not (he has an uncanny sense of direction, I think, for a three-year old).
And finally, the cutest of all . . .
"Go to school today? . . . See Miss Julie . . . Miss Crystal? . . . See Ashton . . . Kyler . . . Is-bella . . . ?" My big boy has found friends. Or at least he seems to think so. Since I'm not at school, I couldn't tell you how much they actually play together. But he loves to ask about them and tell me about them on the way to and from school. We even talk about them randomly, like at dinner or at bedtime. They're a big part of his world right now, regardless of how close they actually are.
Sigh . . . some days it really does go much too fast!