this kid

Went to Church dressed like this yesterday. He wanted to add earplugs because "they make my singing really beautiful, Mom!"  I insisted Church is not the place for earplugs. And we did make sure he took off the sunglasses when we got to the building.

Wears sunglasses every.single.time we leave the house.  Great for his eyes, not so great for the amount of time it takes to get out the door. (They are always lost.)  I finally got smart and took him to pick out two new pairs; maybe now we'll know where at least one pair is at least most of the time.

Is curious and smart.  The connections he makes lately fascinate me.  I love to watch him learn.

Answers our questions in Family Home Evening with statements like this:
"Jesus loves us and I have a sword that kills robots."
"The scriptures tell us about good people and Jesus and skunks make a really bad smell so we shouldn't let skunks into our backyard."

 Gives me this look when I tell him something he thinks is ridiculous.

Woke up at 1:30 am last night and insisted that I help him change his shirt.  He wouldn't say why, just said he  needed a new shirt.  In the morning he came into our room, crawled into our bed, and exclaimed,
"Guys.  When I went to bed yesterday I was in my dinosaur shirt and when I waked up I had this white shirt on.  It's amazing!  It wasn't a dream!"  and then he held up two of my hair elastics that Ellie had left on his floor.  "And I saw these and said to myself, 'Where did these come from?!'"

Wrote on my arm today.  He started backwards, with the sideways exclamation mark.
"Line with dot. Then an O. And another O. And another O. Up down up (his name for "n"). Up down up. Up down up."
Just like that, he'd accidentally written "NNNOOO!" on my arm.


Has an incredibly sensitive sense of smell. He's always the first person to notice when Ellie needs a diaper change.  Public restrooms, the monkey building at the zoo, fields near cows...all these places have become impossible for us to visit with him.  
The other night when my brother was babysitting, Nicholas blurted out, "Why is it so stinky in here?" Josh said he didn't smell anything and Nicholas continued, "It stinks. And I didn't even 'excuse me.'"

 Has finally learned the value of dressing himself, especially after using the bathroom.  This new-found independence means he's usually wearing last summer's t-shirts, pants backwards, and no underwear.  (He "forgets" to put it on after he goes potty.)  But hey, at least he's dressed!

Refers to anything in the past as "yesterday" whether it was a year ago-- 
"Remember when we went to the beach yesterday? I loved that!" 
or two minutes ago--
"Yesterday I told you I didn't want my sandwich cut up, remember?!"

Calls these "Roni Toni" bugs. (Rolly polly/potato bugs)  And then tells me, "I know you like to call them 'Tomato bugs' Mom, but I like Roni Toni better."  He loves to catch them, put them all in a tupperware box, and he declares that they are all named "Jessica."

We spend a lot of time outside, watching bugs.
I love being the mom to a boy.  I had no idea it would be this fun.  Bugs, dirt, balls, cars, airplanes, superheroes, jumping rolling climbing tricks-I love this!

He is silly, creative, sensitive, thoughtful, affectionate, intelligent, curious, and brings light and laughter to our family.

I love my little boy.