From the mouth of babes

Trace is growing and growing and despite my best efforts, seems intent on growing up to be an adult one day too soon. One good thing about him getting bigger is that it is so fun to see how his little mind works and getting to know his personality a little better. On the advice of a friend with grown children, I started making notes of cute or interesting things that Trace says that make him who he is. Here are just a few examples:
-He uses his own phrase "die to death" all the time. I guess that means dying harder?
-"Hey Mom, wanna know what's bigger than our house?" "What honey?" "Space! The kind that spaceships go to, not the kind in your tummy."
-There is a radio commercial recently that talks about a new fast food sandwich and folks that get stuck in an elevator, but aren't upset because they have the "new, chicken club, sandwich from wherever and nothing can get them down." One day, while driving in the car, Kevin and I were talking to each other, and I barely noticed that commercial playing in the background. When the commercial was over, Trace said; "Hey Mom and Dad, when they are done eating their sandwich, they'll STILL be stuck in an elevator!" Quite the little thinker that kid is.
-Whenever he is ready to go somewhere and Mom isn't quite ready, he loves to call me "slowpoke".
-I was talking one Saturday morning to him about what chores we needed to get done and when I mentioned the things he'd need to do, his reply was; "easy peezy, lemon squeezie!". Not sure where he got that one from.
-We were driving along I-15 late one night and Trace was looking out the window at all the lights in the valley. When we drove past the Jordan River Temple, it was probably the size of an apple. He spoke up and said; "Hey Mom, is that the castle from Disneyland that the princess sleeps in?" Guess we need to do a better job of showing him what the different temples look like.
-We like to talk about the fact that he was such a special kid that he was adopted and how we were sealed together as a family in the temple on his first birthday. One day he said; "Mom, I know how we are a family." "How's that sweetie?" "I trusted Daddy, he promised me and he promised you and made us a family with Heavenly Fathers help." Pretty profound for such a little soul.
-We are taking turns saying the prayer at dinnertime and whenever it is Trace's turn, he always includes; "Hey, Heavenly Father and Jesus, we love you....". The first time he did it, we were smiling afterwards and he said; "Don't you think that Heavenly Father and Jesus want us to tell them we love them?" The funniest thing is that he's been doing it now for months now and EVERY TIME he says the same phrase but it always includes the "Hey" in the front. So funny!
-Trace was acting very guilty one day. He said he had something to tell me but he didn't want to get in trouble. I told him that as long as he always told the truth, he would never get in trouble. He acted all shy and looked at his feet, Then he said; "When Boston and Cam were here and we were playing outside, Boston peed on our rock in our backyard. He told me not to tell or he wouldn't trust me again, I don't want Boston to be mad at me, but we not 'posed to pee outside, right Mom?"
- In teaching Trace to use the public restroom correctly, we would wash our hands after using the facilities. He was really good about it and asked why I was washing my hands so long. I told him that you should rub the soap into your hands for the same amount of time it takes to sing the "ABC song" to kill all the germs. (Not sure where or when I had heard that) Now, EVERY time he washes his hands at home, school, restaurants, stores, family members homes, wherever, he sings the ABC song while washing his hands. It has resulted in many smiles from fellow shoppers and patrons.
It is truly the greatest joy to be this little souls caretaker and Mom in this life, but it warms my very soul to see the good inside him and the fact that he's such a sweet little boy. I love that I love him with my very being and I also like him a lot too. After all, what's not to like?