....the day Nixon asked to leave BeBe at home has arrived. My baby boy is growing up, for real!

* Some days I'm almost grateful Nixon is acting a fool in public. Today was one of those days. We're standing in the check out line, and Nixon is upset because he didn't get to go to the toy department. While he's starting to freak out, the woman in line behind us starts going on-and-on-and-on about shopping for toys for her grandson! Really, lady?!? I'm trying to avoid that "t" word and you keep bringing it up. Instead, I try to be courteous and ask how old her grandson is. I'm not sure how old she thought Nixon was, but her grandson is 8! Now, Nixon is tall, but c'mon!
  Eventually, Mac told me to just take Nixon to the car. I did. I picked him up and carried him to the car. Poor Mac, the lady was still talking after we left.

* Sometimes Nixon's cute hits an overload.
   Last night, at Third Eye Comics, Nixon and I were walking around one part of the store and Mac was in a different area. Nixon stopped at the front counter and says to the guys who work there "Excuse me...have you seen my Dad?", just as cute as could be. He knew I was right behind him but he was still concerned about finding Mac.
  I fall in love with him a little more every day...last night this was the moment.

* Nixon and I had to run to Target today, while Mac slept. Before we left Nixon told me "Momma, BeBe needs to take a nap. Can you put him in bed before we go in the car?". I obliged, tucking BeBe into Nixon's bed and we left.
   The amazing part isn't that Nixon wanted BeBe to be tucked in for a nap. It's that we left the house, without a fight, without BeBe. Nixon has had BeBe in hand almost his entire life, so him asking to leave him home is a big step. It's one I knew had to come eventually, but it kind of surprised me too.

No trick camera angle needed, this kid is all legs

* Before bed, Nixon decided to watch the end credits of Wreck-It Ralph. He loves that song and he was dancing to it. Let me tell you, watching an almost-5-year old figuring out how to do the running man all by himself is something to behold! He was doing really good too! I wanted to get a video of him doing it but he said he's not ready for it.
   I can respect that. He'll be working on it, I'm positive

Theme of the day seems to have ended up being: Music.

* While he was eating breakfast, I had some music playing. Nixon was getting up and dancing instead of eating and it was getting closer and closer to time to leave for school. Mac told Nixon he needed to sit down and finish eating. Nixon says "But I need to finish dancing first!", the only thing missing was jazz hands!

* Today Nixon had a great day at school! He got a hug from both his teachers, lots of praise and a special sticker before he left for the day! Mac and I were 2 happy parents when we picked him up, that's for sure.

* And then this happened:

* Finally, while helping me get the recycling together for pickup tomorrow morning, Nixon and I were listening to some music. First up? Matchbox Twenty "She's so Mean". I loved hearing him sing the chorus with me. It was awesome! Because he's liking music I like and because he's singing along to songs.
   The next song was Pink's "True Love". This song we sang and danced together!

School's going well, Nixon is thriving at home too!

* Nixon started the day skipping and dancing into my bedroom when he heard my alarm go off. He came over to my still sleeping body and said "Mom, your alarm went off and I danced, did you see me?" No, but I felt the floor move when he jumped all over my bedroom. He said to me, not liking my answer, "Well, next time open your eyes and watch me, okay? I'm a great dancer!"


* Dancing was the theme of the morning:

* Nixon was also making up silly songs today.  Have you heard the dreidel song? Well Nixon was making up a song in that tune
Daddy, Daddy, Daddy
I love every day
or
Mommy instead of Daddy.
 Too damned cute! 

* The best part of my day was listening to Nixon spell a word and sound it out. He started spelling "taxi" then sounded it out. He moved on to "jet", "boat", "fire truck" and a few other words. He was reading these words from a book he's had since he was a baby, but he was actually spelling then sounding out the words!
   Mac and I are a couple of super proud parents today. He got good report from his teacher at school. He was so happy to see us when we picked him up, he ran over to me for a hug!

How, exactly, does one "dance wrong"?

* Nixon likes to lick any pudding or other food that might stick to his arm. Only problem is, he doesn't lick so much as vacuum it off of his arm. A couple days ago Mac says to me "Nixon has a bruise or something on his arm and he says it hurts." I take a look at it and started to laugh! Not because our kid was hurt, but because our kid had managed to give himself his first hickey...at 4! That's impressive if you ask me!

you can tell, it's pretty obvious what kind of mark and where it came from, that it's not a normal bruise. 

* Yesterday, on my birthday, Nixon told me I wasn't old. This morning, that all changed. Evidently Nixon changed his mind overnight because this morning I heard this "Good morning Mommy! You're old!" followed by him laughing and dancing around my bedroom singing "Old, old, old....hahaha OLD!", a catchy little ditty he made up himself.

* Speaking of dancing, ever dance with your kid to the theme song of a cartoon? I did! Today, we danced to the My Little Pony theme song! Why? Why not! It's catchy and Nixon was in a dancing mood. So we danced! Then he told me to stop, because apparently, I dance wrong.

I don't think he's getting sick, I think he just likes to mouth-breath.

Sometimes you just need to shake your booty!

* Nixon (talking on the phone to grandpa)
"I picking up tires. Cause they dangerous. Okay? Yeah. I love you. Bye"
I love that he is so funny, affectionate and keeps the conversation short all at the same time. And my dad? He gets a little choked up hearing his grandson's voice, which makes me smile.

* Spontaneous dance party in the living room with Nixon! Totally rocked! Best way to have my son giggle, my butt off the couch and both of us busting a move together! Thank you, Vanilla Ice!

It's almost like he knows I'm in the room taking his picture...he doesn't, but his sleep'itude would lead you to believe otherwise.