That's What Timmy Said

I love my son.  I would love him even if I wasn't his mother.  I just think he is a fun kid... and a funny kid.  He regularly makes me laugh and he surprises me more than anyone else on the planet... just when I think I have him figured out, he shows me he is still growing and changing and learning new things.  Do you think that God gives us the delights of 10 and 11 year old boys so that when they are 12-17 year old boys we don't completely lose our minds when their rooms stink to high heaven, and they take uncalculated risks, and they make questionable friendships, and they want to get tattoos of weird things, and they learn how to drive and joke with their mothers about how fast they got the car up to the night before, and they fall in love with a girl and start acting funny, and they choose to play violent sports like football and hockey and lacrosse instead of tennis and golf?  I do.

Here are some of the things my Timmy has said and done lately... 
1. His screen saver on his school laptop is currently a painting of a primitive house with a sod roof. (Normally it is a Pokemon character or a picture of a dog or cat doing something cute/funny.)  If you ask him about his unique photo choice, he will tell you that he is learning about homesteaders in school and how they used what they could find on the land to build shelters and that "that's cool."
2. "Mom, what do you and Dad DO after I go to sleep anyway?!?"  (said upon his realization that we don't go to sleep for sometimes hours after he has gone to bed each night).
3. He waved to a stranger (to me anyway) as we walked down the street yesterday.  Apparently, the guy is a regular at the local coffee shop where Timmy bartered with the manager for free milkshakes and cookies in exchange for his lego collection (which he felt he had outgrown, sigh).
4. When we left a recent school field trip to the bowling alley, he held my hand and said, "That girl was really nice, Mom."  He was referring to a sweet young lady with mental retardation who came right up and introduced herself to him when he arrived and even though she ended up with the lowest score of the day and never seemed to really grasp the rules of the game, seemed to have a great time just being with people.  "Yes, she was nice."  I'm glad he noticed.  I am glad THAT was what he noticed.
5. "Do you think I'm old enough to go on a mission trip, Mom?"  Heaven help me!  I don't know if I am more excited that he is thinking about such a thing or that he still wants to hear what I think!?!?  
6. "Mom, for finals week, I think I want to make a batch of homemade ice cream and just give it away to the college students instead of making them pay for it."  
7. He walks the dogs almost everyday for fun and fancies himself quite the dog whisperer.  
8. Each morning we ask him how he slept the night before and he'll say things like, "Pretty good, I only got 9 hours of sleep though." or "I was up until like 9:50!" *yawn*
9. We went through the Dairy Queen drive through the other day for a quick surprise treat BEFORE lunch and he asked for a small blizzard.  I ordered him a MINI blizzard instead and he said, "Mom, I wanted a small!"  "Well," I said, "I guess we could just cancel our order and go straight home for lunch..."   Timmy immediately changed his tune:  "What was I thinking?! A mini will be just right.  Who would want a small before lunch anyway!?  Sheesh that would just be silly."
10. He regularly begs me to stand back-to-back with him or put my hands or feet up to his so we can determine if he has grown or if he has gotten any bigger than me in some way.  (His feet are bigger than mine and he's got about four inches to go before he looks me square in the eye.)

I don't want to forget these days of innocence and growth spurts and easy laughter and quick forgiveness and tween boy fun.  I want his smile and giggle and funny sayings to be burned into my memory.  This season will be gone before I know it and we'll be on to new and different things.  Each stage with Tim is an adventure, but I think that I'm going to look back at this particular part of the adventure as one of my favorites.  :)
Matthew 18:1-3 (ESV) - "At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, 'Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?' And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, 'Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.'"