"You Pitty!"

I found this in my email today. It was from when Stephen was barely 2.

Today I had the best day! My Stephen came and sat in front of me while we talked and swapped toys. Then he leaned over and put his hands on both my cheeks and rubbed and patted for a moment. Then he smiled and said "You pitty." I looked at him not sure if that's what he had said so I asked "You think I'm pretty?" He laughed and touched my cheeks again and said "Pitty." Then he got up into my lap, head on one leg, his legs hanging off the other side. He had one finger in his mouth bouncing his feet up and down while we tickled and laughed with each other. Then he held my face again and said "You bootyful." Again, I was amazed, as I didn't even know he knew that word, and said "You think Mom's beautiful?" He laughed, stuck that one finger back in his mouth, bounced his feet some more and said "Mom bootyful." What a wonderful day!

Now it's my Dan Dan (3) that thinks I'm beautiful, but only if my hair is down! Anytime I have a ponytail or have my hair in a clip, which is almost always, we wants it out. If I happen to be sitting at his level and he walks behind me, he will grab the ponytail holder and pull it all the way out. "I make you pitty Momma!" he says as he flings my hair around so that it's a lovely mess!

It's funny how each of the boys have had their own little hang ups. Randon could not stand it if I wore lipstick or fingernail polish. He would always say "That's not my Momma." Not that he thought it wasn't me, but that wasn't typical of his momma. Once, for our anniversary, I painted my nails red to match my outfit. Randon was upset about it. He wanted it off. It irritated him so much so that he got up late that night and was still talking about it. I got out the nail polish remover and he helped me take it off! I haven't worn nail polish since then!

Since I'm on the subject of my boys, I have to mention how grown up my Stephen is getting to be! You know, the one that was just a toddler three paragraphs ago, he's nine now, uhhgghhh! We have been meaning to sign him for camp for the last couple of weeks, but things just kept happening that got in the way. A few nights ago, I let him stay up and have a 'late night' with me. We talked and played a few video games together. I told him that we hadn't signed him up yet and that the spots might be gone. He astounded me with his answer. He said "That's okay Mom, if I don't get to go, there must be a reason that I need to be here. Like something important that I need to be here for." What? How old are you? I think I looked at him like he was Donald Duck or something. I just didn't expect that. Just to clarify, I asked "So your saying that if you don't get to go to camp, it's because God wants you to be here for some reason?" He nodded and replied "Yeah, there might be something more important for me to be here for." We finally got him signed up and he's on the waiting list. I told him that and he said "So, unless someone decides not to go, I won't go right?" I nodded. "Well, then I probably won't be going, because camp is fun and no one is going to want to cancel!" Even though he had every right to be frustrated or disappointed, he was cheerful.