A day with Gabe

All too soon, my days just hanging out with Gabe are going to come to an end.  This fall, he will start kindergarten, and I will have all three of my kids in school.

That being said, I have decided to be intentional about enjoying my time with this very-energetic-and-enthusiastic-about-everything-in-life little guy.

You may wonder what a day with Gabe is like.  I'm here to tell you, there's never a dull moment, and more likely than not, you're laughing at least once an hour when in his company.

Gabe usually wakes up around 7:30am.  Lately, he has been coming downstairs shirtless (he says he's hot, but he also likes to flex his little biceps and watch the muscle "bulge"...you pick the reason).  He likes to visit with Elijah and Isabel before they catch their buses, then he watches a show and thinks about what he wants for breakfast.

Today, he requested black olives.  For breakfast.

Unfortunately, these pictures are old, and we were all out of olives.  He had to settle for colby jack cheese, grapes and apple juice, instead.  We watched "Gremlins 2", which he loved.  Then "Jurassic Park 3".  (It's a rainy day here today, and I had to organize closets and move back into the master bathroom, so please don't judge the excessive TV time.)

After a lunch of buttered noodles with parmesean cheese and applesauce on the side, we headed out to the Goodwill to drop off some donations.  As we were driving down the road, I was telling Gabe how glad I was that the new Goodwill was finally open in town.  His response:

"I'm glad we're not sale-ing our stuff to the BAD Will; he's not very nice!".  I had to stifle a giggle on that one. It brought to mind some of the other Gabe-isms of late:

"Look, Mom, I'm having a thumb war with my penis!"  (after bath time; where does he learn this stuff?!)

Another one:  "Every time I poop, my penis stands straight up like it's saying the Pledge of Allegiance!"  (There is something about 5 year old boys and their boy-parts, I'm telling you!)

"Hey, Sissy, wanna watch a Veggietales cartoon with me so we can learn about God?"  (Love this one!)

"Mmm, Mommy, you smell good.  I love your perfoom.  You have to wear perfoom to go to work?  'Cuz you want people to get close to you and smell it?  That's what Johnny Test does."

As I type this post, Gabe is in his room building Legos (and probably making an unholy mess).  If it were nice outside, we'd be jumping on the trampoline or riding bikes or finding worms or planting seeds or building pill bug houses or having a picnic.  As it is, we'll be inside doing puzzles, playing "Don't Break the Ice" for the 100th time, coloring, reading books or playing on the computer/xbox/nintendo ds.

Spending a day with Gabe is not for everyone.  If you crave a quiet, calm and cooperative child who will sit still for hours on end, just forget about it.  But if you want to learn how to really enjoy every single minute of your day, he's your man.  And as exhausted as I sometimes am by 9pm 7pm, I do love that boy, and I know I am really going to miss these days.