Bode

Bode at 4 1/2.

*He loves Star Wars. But I've practically tried to drag him to go see the Force Awakens (with his eyes closed in the scary parts I've already seen) and he flat out refuses. He finally looked at me square in the face and said "I like Lego Star Wars. That's for little kids." Hmm..out of the mouths of babes. But seriously, he very earnestly will sing the Star Wars theme song at any given time, mostly while I'm reading a Star Wars book to him, and I've learned to stop reading, almost in reverence, until he's done. He calls Darth Vader "Dark Vader" and Light Sabers are called "Light Savers." He is convinced that Han Solo is the same as Finn (in the new movie magazine we have of Lego characters) and I'm not sure if it's beautiful that he doesn't see skin color, or worrisome. 

*He is getting bigger and taller but is still a peanut. When he wears his PJ pants his legs look so tall and skinny. When he also pairs that outfit with his giant red Lightning McQueen slippers I about die from cuteness. When I carry him upstairs if he's fallen asleep on the couch (it happens often) he's feeling heavier and harder to manage. So, I kiss him and his sweet soft face even more before I lay him in bed because I can see that he's growing up. It's also in those tender moments where I just can't help but beam when I look at him that I hear Julie's wise words on being a boy mom: "I'm loving him to give him away to someone else...the goal is that I WON'T be the number one lady in his life forever." and it's a wise and good reminder. Even though I think I may want him to live in that little twin bed forever.

*We're constantly trying to school him on being a gentleman. This includes holding doors for people and the time-tested "ladies first." He obliges and actually insists that Mimi always goes first, and I will pretend that this is because he's sweet and not because he has strong opinions on always wanting to go second (for some unexplained reason).

*Which brings me to the fourth thing about 4 1/2 year old Bode. Even though he's growing up and is SO much more reasonable about life (which finally makes our lives not so ...well...miserable), he's still so dang UNreasonable about certain things. 

1. He has VERY strong opinions about smells. This can pertain to his blankie (the dirtier the better...duh), food (nothing weird-smelling and nothing that has that fake cheese smell) and the other day he leaned over and asked to smell Mimi's breath. It was very, very weird. 

2. He also likes water. Not just any water though..."cold cold cold cold cold water with ice in it."
Also ANY beverages. He's obsessed with beverages. He asked to have apple juice AND chocolate milk at Chipotle. His life is complete when we have "red lemonade" (raspberry lemonade) on hand.

3. He won't eat something that is different than what he's used to (typical I think). Goodbye fancy restaurant's homemade mac 'n cheese. In fact, goodbye ANY mac 'n cheese that isn't EXACTLY what he's accustomed to. It's embarrassing. 

There's probably more but I've chosen to block them out I'm sure.

*He loves to play "Star Wars wrestle" with Ben and also loves the Avengers character Nova. 

There's so much more, but I just wanted to make sure to take a small snapshot of our growing, blonde-headed boy. 

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