Three - The Sunny Side

I'm feeling like I've been a bit on the whiney side lately.  I have this perspective, likely, because my Boy-o has been at his grandparents for an overnight, and I am missing him horrendously.  Such is the stuff of life - they drive you bonkers when they're around and you can hardly stand it when they're not.   That, and L. and I were checking out schools for Boy-o yesterday, and I was struck with the sudden, crushing realization that my baby is getting growed up.  It is not entirely a welcome realization, though I get that it's an inevitable one.    Kids' growing up, going on sleep-overs, going to pre-Kindergarten...the little bugger is going to leave me.   And so this little blog is dedicated to the beautifulness, the wonderfulness, and the cheeky-little-bugger-ness of my Boy-o, right in the here and now of the tricky age of three.

Here are some of the 3 year old things that are all the rage at my house:

"Mama, Mama-mama-mama-mama!  I have the most WONDERFUL idea.  Let's use our imaginations!"  (Seriously - how can you not just die of loving him right then?)

"Hmmmmmm - I fink this is kind of boring."  Heard anytime I am occupied with something other than him. 

"I KNOW - how 'bout we co-operate?"  (He says this to mollify me when I am getting frustrated and he is about to be in some trouble.  Boy-o is a smart little sucker!  It works every freaking time.

He is also developing some serious empathy skills right now, and can often be heard trying to figure out what is pissing his sister off.  He can often be heard surmising: "I fink Ducy needs some milk." or something of the like.  Funnily, he will say "I fink Ducy got a bonk" with astonishing innocence, even when I have just seen and know very well that he is the one that gave "Ducy" said bonk.  Cheeky little bugger.

Though you all know how hard the current tantruming business is, there are these moments post-tantrum, when my Boy-o looks terribly small and exhausted and teary, where he will turn to me and say "Mama - can I have a snoogle?" and crawl into my arms.  These moments are almost indescribable - they are unbelieveably raw and sad and sweet and every single time, I can feel my beat-up-little heart just about crack open with love for this small little creature.    

He is so into learning and playing and repetition right now, intensely focussed on devouring the world around him, practicing his new-found skills over and over and over.   He takes in the world head-on, at full-tilt, full-time.  His energy is boundless. 

I am beginning to think that his love of airplanes and all things airborne (like skydiving!) is not just a passing phase.  He is as devout about it now as he was a year ago - and becoming more so every day.  (I can barely begin to describe the bizarreness of being deathly afraid of flying (and falling) and having a child whose destiny may very well be to fly (and/or possibly jump out of perfectly good airplanes).  I am in awe of his fearlessness.

Boy-o, as you know from my previous blog, is going through some issues with bossiness. So the other morning when I got out of bed and he began to yell, "No Mama!  No!  Go back to bed!" I almost snarked at him about being bossy.  I didn't though, and blearily headed back down the hallway and snuck back under the covers, wishing I could let my sleep-deprived body succomb to the sleepiness.  Seconds later, I was covered in gangly three year old limbs, as he jumped on me, zipped under the covers, wrapped his little nody into mine and whispered in my ear: "Good morning Mama - I duv you." 

Holy shit - I am here to tell you - life couldn't possibly get any better than that moment right there.