I like to spend time with him

I think Moses's top love languages are quality time and gifts. Quality time because he seems to always be asking to spend time with us and inviting us to play together. He even brings his toys for us. And he remembers who gave him which toys. I think it really is special to him. Low on the list is touch and words of affirmation. I think acts of service are kind of in the middle because he likes to do things for others, but I wonder if that's kind of a phase and not necessarily one of his main love languages. 

We snuggled together tonight and we had a long discussion about baby Eden. He told me about how she's "gonna pop out" and [gesturing toward my chest], he said "that's her spot," meaning, that's where she'll be. (How does he know!?) I told him about how small she's going to be and that she's going to need a lot of help. And he said milk will help her. He told me he doesn't like when babies chew on boy toys (his cars is what he was meaning, I think). I told him we can probably teach her not to do that, and that there will be so many things we can teach her. I also told him that he will always be my favorite little boy, my special Moses, even after Eden comes. He seemed to get it. 

It's past 9:30 pm now, and he just came out to snuggle with me. What is he doing up so late?? I wonder if his little brain is staying up processing out heart-to-heart. He's the sweetest kid ever. When I told hinge needed to go to bed, at first he said he didn't want to, but when I insisted it was time for bed, he told me, "it's okay, we can snuggle tomorrow."

Love that kid. 

my heart overflows

our son is turning into a delightful, considerate, little man, right before our eyes.

sometimes, when I struggle to get up because of my pregnant belly, he notices and tells Shane to help me by saying, "daddy, she can't get up."

the other day, he told me he was special. :) when I agreed, he turned to me and said, "mommy, you're special, too." :)

he mentions Baby Eden and his plans for her nearly once a day. last week, he told me, "when Baby Eden comes out, she's going to be my friend." he also says things about what she'll play with, where she'll sleep, what she'll wear... you get the idea. :)

we were on our way to church last week, and he suddenly says, "oh no, we forgot my backpack!" so responsible. we did indeed forget his backpack, but it just has a spare outfit in it, so we were okay.

the day before yesterday, Jude somehow got a hold of Shane's printer ink cartridge... and there was black ink all over our nice wool rug and our new office carpet. we were both shocked and horrified for a time. Shane was pretty quiet after that, and Moses went up to him and asked him, "daddy, are you sad?" it was so sweet. later on, Shane was scrubbing the carpet, and Moses went to him and said, "don't worry, daddy, it'll come out."

oh yeah, I wanted to add that he still calls the bathroom, "braff-fume," and one of his most common words is "a-later," as in, "we can have some candy a-later." delayed gratification at play~

this is the best child I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I feel so incredibly lucky to have him in my life. :) my only slight sadness right now is that a new baby is coming, and my one-on-one mommy-son time is slowly coming to an end. I love his sweet snuggles in the quiet mornings and evenings. it's been just so lovely over the last couple of months.

I've truthfully never had any ambitions of growing old, but this child is really inspiring me. I hope I can walk by his side for a long long time so I can watch his precious life unfold.

car transporter

"it's a car prance-porter, mommy!" he says excitedly.

"a car prance-porter?"

"no! a car prance-PORTer, mommy!" he corrects me.

"a car prance-porter?"

"no! a car prance-PORTer, mommy!" he says as we both start laughing.

"OH! a car transporter!"

he nods with satisfaction.

Uh oh, quiet toddler...

So, anyone who's watched young children for any length of time is probably familiar with the suspicious quiet, the one where you notice that you've been relaxing for few minutes of blissful peace and quiet. And you suddenly realize, UH OH! What kind of trouble could my active, talkative, wonderful, and typically non-quiet child be getting into?? Is he still alive?? 

Shane entered Moses's room this morning to check on him after a bit of suspicious quiet, and Moses, like a grown person, looked over his shoulder at Shane and said, "I'm reading books, daddy." And he got back to his books. 

I don't know why I ever worry. He really is such a good kid. 

Also, on the way to church, he says, "oh no, we forgot my backpack." He's so smart. 

Also this morning, I found an exploded pull up in the washer. Moses sometimes accidentally throws his pajamas and pull up in the hamper altogether when he gets changed in the morning. I usually catch it, but I didn't this time. Those dreadful, sticky gel crystals were all over the clothes and machine. I managed to scoop out a few handfuls of them out, and with an extra wash, it's all miraculously clean. But the whole point of the story is that while I was cleaning out the machine, Moses was by my side saying, "I'm sorry mommy, that was my fault."

he's prepared

i usually lay out mo's outfit for the next day on top of his dresser/changing table. a shirt, a pair of shorts, a pair of underwear, and some socks. last night, as i was leaving his room, i realized i forgot to do this (which happens occasionally). as i told him he needed to get his clothes on this morning, he told me he picked out some shorts. sure enough, he had picked and laid out his outfit for today: a shirt, a pair of shorts, a pair of underwear, and some socks! i asked him when he did that, and he said before naptime. i can only assume that after we tucked him in last night, he got back up to pick out his outfit for today. he's really so ridiculously easy to look after sometimes.

at dinner last night, we were having pizza, and after i pulled the two pizzas out of the oven, i set them on the table. moses looked at them and said, "you made pizza, mommy? it looks good!"

also, he likes to ask me to play with him, and even brings me toys. he is really thoughtful!

at least once a day, he's been telling me about "when baby Eden comes." he talks about where she'll sleep, what she'll wear, what toys she'll play with. it's really really sweet. i love that kid.

sometimes it's confusing

we got home the other day, and we usually take our shoes off at the door. well, a lot must have been going on when we first got home, because when i asked mosey to take his shoes off, he accidentally shimmied his pants and underwear down instead. i was talking with shane, so when i looked over at mo, with his pants and underwear around his ankles, i have to say, it was one of the funniest things i'd seen in a while. i tried to hide my laughter though, because it was definitely an easy mistake to make, and i didn't want him to feel embarrassed. he was just trying to do what i asked him to do. :)

packing and sweet, warm hands

i told him yesterday morning that we were going to go to Nana and Grandpa's house. after church, he fussed for a second, and when I asked him what was wrong, he said, we're going to Nana's house later? then he asked me if we could pack his suitcase. I guess he was realizing that he had to pack his things if he wanted to go to Nana's, and wanted to get that done. :)

we also decided on Saturday that we were going to move into our new apartment on Friday/Saturday. this was a quick decision, but we were told we have to move out by the end of August, so might as well do it now, right? so, because we wanted to have Moses stay with Shane's parents, we realized that he wouldn't see the whole process of packing and might just come back to a whole new house. it seemed like a rough transition, so we took the time to sit and explain that we were moving. we explained we were going to pack all our things in boxes and move to a new house. we let him pack a box of books on Saturday night and then a box of cars on Sunday morning. Shane helped him decorate and label the boxes. and we kept explaining that we're moving to a new place. we think he gets it. the first thing we can do when he gets there is to unpack his boxes with him. and then maybe go back to our old place together to say bye.

it's so sad. we loved that little place. it's been home for 2 years. moses basically grew up there. *sigh*

in other news, yesterday, i was putting some hydrocortizone on one of mo's many bug bites, and he said, "mommy, you're hands are cold." I said, "yeah, buddy, i'm sorry. i'm almost done." and then he told me he wanted to warm my hands for me, and started rubbing them with his two hands. and they got warmer! it was so sweet; i'm still smiling about it.

also, I don't remember exactly what day it was, but one day last week, he woke up with dry pull-ups in the morning. he got up to pee twice that night, which wasn't exactly fun (because guess who stays awake for no reason for like an hour after each of those times? me.), but maybe he's on his way to pull-up freedom! :)