little bud

The thing I do the very most of here in Naples is spend time with Graham. Being away from him for a week made me realize just how much time I spend with him. It's a lot. A whole lot.

With the way time is flying, I figured I better document some things about his personality before he's 6 and I've forgotten what he was like when he was 3.

I say six, because that is the age when his whole world is going to open up, according to him. He will tell people, "I am going to be 4, and then 5, and then 6!" Then he'll tell me, "Mom, maybe when I'm six I can have a motorcycle and a race car. A red one. Or maybe a motorcycle that turns into a race car. Yeah. That is what I want. When I'm six."

His favorite foods are pasta, peanut-butter sandwiches, cheese (all kinds, even super sharp tasting kinds), olives, apples, peas, and chocolate (all kinds, even really bitter tasting kinds). He's been eating us out of house and home, lately. He never used to ask for food between mealtimes, but those days are over. He's asking for food every hour, now. I can't imagine how much food he will consume when he is a teenager.

He is extremely curious about every little thing and asks question upon question upon question until finally I have to throw up my hands and say, "Well, Graham, because that's just the way it is. Please, no more questions about that."

He likes to get his "sillies" out before putting on his pajamas. "Sillies" are when he runs around his bedroom and then Tony or I (usually Tony) catches him with a blanket. Lately, he has been liking one "sinking silly" per night where he sinks to the bottom of his sleeping bag and then gets spun around in circles.

He always has to have two stories before bedtime. I think he's memorized every book on his shelf, but he never gets bored with stories.

He loooves little babies, especially newborns. He even gets a little giddy around them sometimes, but he knows how to be gentle. He loves to pat and rub their heads. It's quite precious.

He is constantly pretending. He pretends to be different animals, and he makes me pretend with him. If he watches a movie, he will pretend to be the characters in the movie til the end of time. For example, from the movie, "Bolt," he says to me, "Mom, you be Penny and I'll be Bolt and I'll be locked in a cage and then you have to come get me out. Okay?" If I do anything slightly out of character, he will say, "No, Mom! You have to be her!" Then, he'll go on directing another scene that I must follow lest I be yelled at. I think he might be a movie director or something when he grows up.

He is a goofball. He's hardly ever serious about anything. He makes everything fun. He is often in his own world and can play really well by himself. 

His face and hair are always messy. He despises wearing coats or jackets, so I make him wear long-sleeved shirts, which he then has to put a tee-shirt over. He also likes to wear shorts, but it is too cold for shorts, so I make him wear pants. So, he puts his shorts over his pants. We got him some pretty nice boots to wear during the colder months, but he refused and would only wear his Converse sneakers. You should see how worn out they are. Someone should tell his mom to get him a new pair...

He's not all that into drawing and coloring. He'll do it for a little while, but then want to start playing. He just likes to play. All the time. I'm working on getting him to learn to write some letters. I've realized that most kids his age know how to write their name, so I've been working on that with him. He really doesn't like it very much, but giving him stickers seems to help him cooperate.

When Tony and I talk about Graham with each other, we refer to him as "Little Bud." We've been doing that since the day he was born.

Hmm, let's see. I feel like I am forgetting something. What could it be? Oh, yes. He is obsessed with Justin Bieber. He loves to watch him dance and then try to do the dance moves himself. He can sing the words to "Baby," but I can never get him to do it on camera. At least once a day, I hear, "Mom, I am just Justin Bieber. Okay? You be his mom."

And that is how I spend my days. Pretending to be Justin Bieber's mom. 

And with that, I bid you goodnight.