hammers and bubbles

I am the mother of a toddler boy:

• He plays with balls, trucks and animals. 
• He likes shirts with space rangers, trains, and pirates. 
• When he falls, he gets right back up. 
• He loves to jump on the bed and says, “Geronimo!”
• He has Toy Story and Oliver and Company memorized. 
• Orphaned sticks and rocks always find their way inside with us. 
• He drives the car from the garage. 
• He has already distinguished our three remotes. 
• When he hears football on, he runs to the TV and yells, “Dolphins!”
• Any object can be used as a hammer. 
• We openly discuss poop and farts. 
• His first instinct after a burp is to laugh, rather than say, “excuse me.” 

Yet…

• Today he evacuated all his toys from his Cozy Coupe and got out shrieking for me to kill the spider on the steering wheel. 
• When he blows bubbles, he likes to follow them to see where they land (“go see them” as he calls it). 
• He says, “All safe for Holdy, nothing can hurt him,” while patting down the curtains for him – the same thing he used to have me do for him during a thunderstorm. 
• You’d think his toys were nanopets the way he makes sure they get to eat, drink, sleep, and play.
• When one of us is sad, he comes to make it all better with a kiss. 
• When someone hugs in a book or on TV, he turns to me with his arms outstretched and says, “big hug!”
• When he saw polar animals in the snow in his book, he said, “polar bear is cold! He needs a blanky.”

Boys are mysteriously tough yet tender creatures. So blessed to have two of them!