funny little guy.

this little guy cracks. us. up. 

he is constantly making us laugh and saying things that surprise me. 

here are some of the things that i just don't want to forget....

- he calls all orange construction cones 'cozy cones' from the cars movie 

- we stopped at mcdonalds on the way home from the airport the other night to grab a quick snack since it was the only thing open.  we never go there but somehow cole thinks it is called old mcdonalds and asked us if this place to eat was a part of the farm

-  he has been pretending to feed baby kittens and told me one morning, 'mommy, kittens get milk from their mommy's nickels.' 

- he calls question marks 'mystery mousekatools' (if you watch mickey mouse clubhouse you know why!)

- he calls his sisters 'my babies'.  if one is in another room, he looks around and says, 'mom, where is my other baby?'

- our babysitter has taken cole to church on wednesdays for me when brenner was gone and when riding home in the car with her it was quiet for a minute and he asked her out of the blue, 'miss aaryka, are you thinking about chicken?'

- he calls mr. potato head, "mr. sweet potato head" (i guess because we eat a lot of sweet potatoes!)

- most recently he has been into the bible.  these past few weeks we have studied joseph and cole has been reenacting joseph's brothers throwing him into the pit before being sold into slavery.  in this picture, cole was the brother and elise had the good fortune to play joseph being thrown in the pit. 

i think she played her part well, don't you? 

(he also got in trouble one day for throwing stones in the backyard towards his sisters.  he explained that they were doing something wrong so he was just stoning them like they so in the bible when people do wrong things.  is it okay to edit bible stories so this kid won't take things so literally??)

i got to take cole out with me a couple weeks ago for an afternoon of just mommy and cole and it really is so much fun to do.  i love spending one on one time with him.  i am constantly amazed at the impact of spending one on one time with your kid has as they get older.  whenever brenner or i take time with just cole, he talks about it for days, even weeks, later.  it will become more and more of a challenge as the kids get older to have that one on one time with them but i am determined to do it.  my parents did it with us and i want to do it with my kids too.
they need it more than you think. 

(on a side note, i sent this above picture to brenner when we were out and he responded in a text that he was jealous he could not be with us eating ice cream.  when i relayed that message to cole, cole was quiet for a minute and said, if daddy is jealous of you, is he going to throw you in slavery like joseph's brothers because they were jealous too? i assurred him no, and then we had an unexpected conversation about jealousy, slavery and loving your siblings.)

i am constantly amazed at what cole teaches me and the serious and deep conversations that we have had with this three year old.  

cole, you are a remarkable little boy, and it truly is a privilege to be your mom.