Who IS this kid...

Okay, so I keep finding myself asking this question of late because William has said or done something so charming, funny, clever, etc... that I think, he can't have come from me! Here are some of his better most recent moments:

1) After a long day watching two of my friend's kids on top of my own and a HORRIBLE night with Elizabeth (growth spurt?) and William (growing pains) and Mike being out of town, I was particularly exhausted this past Thursday morning when William got up (Elizabeth had fallen back to sleep). He's in my bed and when I tell him mommy is SOOOO tired he says, "that's okay mommy. Why don't I go out and lie on the green couch and watch something and you can just stay here in your bed and sleep some more?" I look at him incredulously and say "are you serious?" (he's always afraid to be without me, even if I'm just in the next room). He says, "sure, just leave your door open" (my door opens out into the living room). So I figure, I'll give it a shot. He sits quietly on the couch for an hour watching Sprout TV and then when I wake up says, "there mommy, do you feel better now?" And I did! What a guy.

2) On Tuesday of this past week was the day Mike left for his most recent work travels and I'm always a tad bummed when Mike's gone. I mean, there's always that small part of you that enjoys the freedom of getting to cook all the things he hates for dinner, or just eating cereal for dinner, etc... but for the most part, Mike is my best friend and it's just not that much fun around here without him. So as we're sitting there having dinner without Mike and I'm doing my best to be totally chipper and fun (and yes, I cooked something he would have hated), William takes to petting my hair the way I do to calm him or put him to sleep. I look over at him and he asks "is that okay." I said, "uh yeah, sure, why?" And he replies with, "I was trying to make you feel better. Are you less sad now?" "Do I seem sad?" I ask. And he says, "yeah, just a little though. better now?" I just gave that kid the biggest hug ever.

3) We have started a "positive reinforcement" method of discipline with William so that we don't always use time-outs or taking things away. It consists of a magnet board divided into "Good" and "Bad" and we encourage him to earn good magnets with good behavior, helping out, etc. It's been a wonderful thing and if he earns a sufficiently larger ratio of good to bad magnets, he gets a special something at the end of the week. It can be a toy, the right to sleep in mom & dad's bed, the right to nap in his tent, a "trip" with dad, etc. Well, this recent development (as well as his increasing exposure to birthdays and holidays) has taught him about "the store". As in, the store is a place where you buy things. The funny part is, he seems to have decided that everything has it's own separate store. The other day he tells me that I need to go to the "Diver Doug" store and buy him a Diver Doug costume (character on a British TV show shown on Sprout). I tell him that there's no such store and he replies, "well... where will you get my costume then?!" (you note, he assumes I'll actually buy him one!)

4) William now understands the concept of Santa because we keep telling him that he can't have everything he wants and that he needs to be good and ask Santa for some items. Apparently, gone are the days of making a list, baking cookies and waiting. No, in this instant-gratification world, my son has decided that communication with Santa needs to be instantaneous. More than once in the past couple months when he's expressed his desire for something and I've told him he can ask Santa for it later he replies with, "no, why don't you just call Santa right now?". Jeez, next thing you know, he'll be asking me to text Santa!

5) I joined a Mom's Club so I could commune with other stay-at-home-moms and so the kiddos could socialize. Recently, I attended our monthly meeting and since we got a "sitter" to watch the kids, they were to play in the huge indoor playground at the church while we moms met upstairs. Not 5 minutes after our meeting started, the sitter came into the meeting room with my red-eyed son saying he was looking for me and had gotten upset. When I told him that I brought him here so that he could play in the indoor playground while I met with the moms he said "no." When I asked him why he didn't want to play with the other kids his reply was, "I just want to stay here with you... because I love you." (Enter a huge chorus of AWWWWWWWW's from the other moms in the room). Needless to say, my son has now charmed his way into the hearts of my fellow moms.

As I observe my son and all his funny thoughts and ideas I can't help but wonder how he'll be in the future... and even more, how he and his sister will band together to charm, wheedle, plot and reason their way into even more funny stories. God help me... I'll need it.