and now he uses the microwave

This boy of mine. 
He taught our Family Home Evening lesson tonight. As he prepared it, we could hear him singing "I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!" in the front room. He sings with vigor, adding vibrato and emotion. 
His lesson was about (surprise) being members of the Church of Jesus Christ. He read sentences from the nursery lesson manual that we use. "The Church of Jesus Christ has prophets. The Church of Jesus Christ has scriptures." We talked about how all the different church buildings we've attended as we move and visit relatives are all actually part of the same Church. We talked about baptism. 
He picked the song and the prayers.

This boy of mine.
He came home from school one day and told me all about penguins. 
"And next week," he declared, "I think I'm going to be an expert on cows."
He was the Star Student a few weeks ago, and he beamed with pride as I came and presented the poster we made with pictures and facts about him. 


This boy of mine.
Started playing soccer last week. What he lacks in skill he more than makes up for in enthusiasm. His first game was so fun to watch. He chased down the ball, but then as it got close he'd start to shake his hands and bounce up and down and had no idea what to do, but he was SO excited. 
Our neighbor, and his best friend, is on his team, and her dad coaches. 

This boy of mine.
Gets frustrated when we don't let him serve his own plate at dinner. 
Wants to learn to tie his own shoes.
Has finally accepted the idea of doing his daily chores without imploding. (For a few weeks I was the worst mom in the world.....apparently we didn't introduce the idea of chores early enough....but it's all good now.)
Loves having me read chapter books to him before bed, and gets very upset when we finish a book, because "I just never want to be done reading about Charlotte's Web, Mom!"
Every day is either the best day of his life, or the worst. He feels so very strongly about so much.

This boy of mine.
Has learned to use the microwave to make his own popcorn. 
He's growing up too fast.
But at least, for now, he still needs to use a stool to reach it.