"But you've already made the cupcakes!"

Okay, so it's the day before my youngest turns 5 years old. He's sitting on my lap and we're just cuddling and chatting. He's just so precious. I'm having a hard dealing with the fact that he's growing up. I look at him gently and with all sincerity say, "I don't want you to turn five. I just want you to stay four." He makes one of his smirking faces and replies, "Sorry, but you've already made the cupcakes....I have to." Already made the cupcakes? Now if it were only that easy to keep him four, I'd destroy those things in a flash!

Our "Tater Tot" (his nickname from almost day one) is chock full of "Taterisms." I'm never surprised what comes out of that child's mouth. For instance....."Do you know who the boss of all of us is," he asked. "No," I replied. He matter-of-factly said, "GOD!" Well, I guess I sort of knew that but just never really thought of him as the "boss."

I recently asked him if he had blown out a candle that I had lit and sat on the stove. He said no, he didn't. I proceeded to ask Garret, my oldest son. His reply was the same. Okay, then who was it? The dog? Tater thought a moment and said, "Well, if it wasn't Bubby, I guess it must have been me." He's not directly admitting to doing it, therefore he avoids getting in trouble, right?

Every morning when I tell him to get dressed for school (preschool) he wants to know if he can wear "cool clothes" or "dumb clothes." To him "cool clothes" consist of basketball type shorts and any shirt that has a number on it (see picture). "Dumb clothes," on the other hand, are say khaki shorts and a non-numbered shirt. And, if he's going outside to play, it's mandatory that he wear his "fast shoes." Oh no, ordinary tennis shoes will not due and sandals are out of the question. He has to have a certain pair of tennis shoes that have been deemed, by him, as "fast shoes."

He, his dad and older brother wrestle almost every evening at some point. If he finds that he's not getting equal time "on top" or isn't happy with the outcome of a match he breaks out the "arm kit pooties." This all started a while ago when he discovered that daddy has hair under his arms. How gross he thought at the time. Then, dad would give him arm pit cooties to get a rise out of him. Well, now he retaliates by smirking, pulling his arm into his shirt and slowly taking it out the bottom of his shirt. Then, after a brief pause, he does it......he lifts that arm straight up to the sky and comes at you with his "arm kit pooties." (it got a little twisted around in his translation huh?)

This week we're dog sitting for some friends who are on vacation in London. We have two Yorkies of our own and now, for a week, we have three. She's as sweet as can be and we all just love her. Anyway, while walking the dogs the other day he came up with an excellent idea, or so he thought anyway. "Hey, mom" he said, "I know what we can do.....let's buy some paper and write 'If you're leaving bring your dog to our house' on it. Then, we could put them up everywhere. How about that?" So, now we have a little entrepreneur on our hands. I always knew this kid was smart.

He's a very thoughtful boy too. He has told his dad on several occasions that when he gets big he's going to work for him. When asked why he said, "so he can spend more time at home." Awwww, isn't that just precious? One of his favorite foods to eat is "China Knees" (chinese). This seems so strange to me since during my pregnancy with him I developed my dislike for it. This little gift that God saw fit to bless us with five years ago is truly that.......a precious gift. Thanks a million, boss!