Premonitions

From dinner tonight...

Monkey: Who's Neil Diamond?
Me: He's cheesy.
Monkey: Really?
Me: Here...I'll prove it to you...
(10 seconds into youtube video of Cracklin Rose)
Monkey: Ok. You're right. He's cheesy.
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Monkey: I'm stretching.
Me: You're procrastinating eating your meatloaf.
Monkey: Nooo! I was tired of the pose I was in, so I straught.
(pause)
Monkey: Wait. Did I just say "straught"?
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He's only 27 days from his 7th birthday. Some days, it feels like I'm talking to a teenager...and I'm shocked when he whines about something trivial. Some days, he's still the little kid trying to make sense of the world and all the growing pains that come with it. We'll talk about the theory of relativity one minute and then, an hour later, he'll apologize for making me "fusstrated." He's not technically a 'tween, but already very much in between the child and the big boy...


And it's awesome, really...seeing him grow and mature and develop. I'm just starting to become acutely aware that the future isn't all that far away. We're fast approaching the time when he won't be all that interested in snuggling up when he's sad... He's slowly losing his lisp and his tendency toward mispronunciations ("callapiddar" has been replaced by the grown up "caterpillar" this summer)... He is...sooner than I'd like, I'll wager...likely to grow tired of me telling the internet about our little chats. He's also going to eventually figure out that he's supposed to be embarrassed of some of the pictures he asks me to take...


Meanwhile, there's not much to be done about it but enjoy the ride...and the conversations...and the snuggling...and the blog fodder. If I'm lucky, the transition will be a slow enough one that I'll have time to adjust. And when the day comes and he's older...and way too cool for me and all this nonsense...at least I'll have something to read!