A Man With a Purpose

I don't know why this kind of stuff cracks me up so much.  Does anyone else laugh, like I do, watching the independence of a child emerge during toddlerhood?  Dang, I LOVE kids!  Especially mine.  And I am especially enjoying this funny, funny stage that Trey is in right now, in which his personality is showing itself more every day.  He is one funny kid!

First of all, our house is kind of big, so watching him walk around in it totally reminds me of Ducky Mo Mo (see the "Nerds of a Feather" episode of Phineas and Ferb) waddling around.  And he does it with such purpose, and such a sense of intense importance to everything he MUST do.  For example, when he finishes his breakfast in the morning and is set free from the high chair, he MUST walk straight back to Mommy's bathroom and retrieve the toilet cleaning wand, so he can carry it around with him to cast spells Harry Potter-style at everyone in the house.

In this picture, he had also spent some time unwinding the toilet paper.  And because his feet are so sweaty and sticky, he emerged from the bathroom not only with the cleaning wand, but with strips of toilet paper stuck to the bottom of his feet.  Ha!

He also LOVES to be outdoors and insists upon it loudly whenever he can.  In the picture below, he was playing on our deck when it started to rain.  He loved it so much, that instead of running for cover, he sat down to watch the fascinating display of nature all around him and refused to come inside:

And on another occasion he did it with Big Sis:

In fact, despite the fact that I am a very attentive Mommy, the other day Trey managed to escape my attention for 2 minutes after his bath while I helped Courtney turn on her shower.  Can you guess where I found him?  He was outside in our unfenced backyard, which is on the golf course and therefore practically a public location, completely in the buff!  It's a good thing his itty bitty buns are too dang cute to be considered indecent!  And he protested loudly when I snatched him up to bring him back inside.  Ah, BABY!

He can do so many things now that he couldn't do even a month ago!  I find stuff all over the house that he has moved from one place to another.  He can redecorate with a purpose!  I found a Halloween dish towel in my bedroom the other day.  Another time, he came through the house carrying some unmentionables he wanted to distribute to everyone (Chase: "What are these?"  Me: "Nevermind!").  Closing the doors to keep him out of certain places only worked for about 2 weeks, because now he can do this:

Yep, that's right.  He can open the pantry door all by himself.  Which is why I found this little gift deposited on the floor in my bathroom this morning:

I know this is all silly stuff, but for some reason it fills my heart to overflowing, because I see it as such a privilege to see these little people through this phase of their lives.  And now, I must wrap this up because I hear the Little Buddy calling me from his crib as his nap is over.  "Mom!  Mom!  Mom!"  Someday I will miss these moments, but today I am so thankful for them!!!!!