Just the Girls

I've been trying my best not to admit it...but our Cooper is getting older. Getting wiser. Looking like a little man. And just generally getting way too big, way too fast. 

So I'm one of THOSE moms who asks my kindergartner lots of questions about his day. In my defense, he's like his daddy in that he doesn't always see a need to give more than a one word response. And mama don't play that game. 

But last week, he surprised me when I asked him who he played with on the playground. "Oh, just the girls," he said casually, with a coy grin on his face. Of course, I pounced on this immediately. What? Just the girls? What girls? What happened to Davey and Carlos (his answer all the other times I asked). 

So then he told me again, he just played with the girls. And it was just him. I'd never heard him mention playing with a girl (except Belle from pre-k) so I asked for clarification--which girls?

"You know. Just Belle, Abby, Kayla, and Lenora."

And you could tell as he rattled off the list to me that he was super thrilled about it. Sigh.

This from the little boy who will come up to me from behind, wrap his arms around my waist, squeeze tight and say, "I just love you."

And then there's Brayden. His little mind has been stuck on heaven lately. One day in the car, out of the blue, he said to me,

"Know what, mommy? When I get to heaven, first I'll ask God why heaven is small. Then I'll ask Jesus...." And he sort of trailed off. 

So I prompted him, "What are you going to ask Jesus?"

"Uhhh. I'll probably just hug him first."

And Brayden is so random. I never know what is going to pop out of that mouth. Last night, as I walked through the kitchen, I sort of groaned and said, "my tummy hurts." 

Brayden responded with, "Maybe daddy's got to love on you a little bit."

This is Brayden with his drawing of a frog he caught on this day. He told me the frog with the hair on top is the mommy. 

Then one morning on the way to school, out of nowhere, Brayden sweetly told me, "Mommy, I like your nightgown when you wear it." And let me set the record straight --I was NOT in my nightgown taking my kid to school!! 

But that's Brayden. So very complimentary. We'll be driving in the car and he'll comment, "that's a nice restaurant over there" or "Uncle Jimmy sure has a nice four-wheeler". 

Back to Cooper for a minute. He's insisted for some time now that he doesn't sleep much at night. He told me:

"I'm awake almost the whole middle of the night and I don't fall asleep until it's almost morning. Because my back hurts a lot all night. And I keep trying to roll over a lot."

Then he shared his dream with me one morning. "I was having a dream Shamu was in our house. He was in the guest room."

Per usual, Lucas wants to do everything his big brothers do. He wants to write on the dry erase board like them. Give him a marker or an eraser, no matter which room in the house you're in, and he'll crawl like a mad baby to the easel, stand up and start "drawing" and "erasing". When they play their pads, he's right up by them watching the action.