"And when I was a man, I put away childish things"

My son is not even three years old yet, and already, he's starting to put away some of his delightful childish expressions.

For example, William used to say "tomo" for tomato. Then, a few months ago, he proudly asked for some more "tomaaaatoes." We jokingly asked him if he actually wanted some more "tomos," but we weren't fooling him. He never asked for "tomos" again, but he'll gladly eat as many "tomatoes" as you're willing to fork over.

Then, about a week ago, William was nattering on in the backseat about bulldozers and cranes and all manner of construction equipment that we regularly see driving around town. Then he saw a truck towing a trailer with a big industrial tractor mower on the back. He asked what it was, and I told him.
Then I realized after he repeated what I said that he had said "lawn mower," and not "lawn motor." He'd been saying "lawn motor" for months, and I always thought it was both cute and sort of appropriate, too. I've been trying to trick him into saying "lawn motor" again, but again, he's too smart for me. "Lawn mower, Mama," he will tell me when I ask him if he just saw the "lawn motor." "It's lawn mower." Oh, he knows I'm dying for him to say "lawn motor" just one more time, but he laughs and laughs and just won't do it. He can say the real phrase now, and he's not looking back.

(Side note: What is it about construction equipment that so enthralls small boys? William knows the names of more of those machines than I do, and I have 30 years on him. I tend to call all of them either bulldozers or diggers. I'm probably wrong 90 percent of the time, but oh well.)

Aw, man. I'm not ready for this yet. I didn't think he'd be giving up little cute childish expressions before he was even out of diapers! I figured, I'd get more time than this to cherish them before I just had to remember them. I bet if you asked her, Diane would say that she still misses the way David used to say "windsheepers" instead of "windshield wipers" when he was a preschooler.

He's already so big and independent that the little babyish things are starting to get a little hazy in my head. It's hard to exactly recall how the top of his baby head used to smell. It's hard to remember precisely how it felt when he fell asleep with his head on my shoulder. I figured, at least toddlerhood brings the hilarious little neologisms to enjoy.

Luckily, William still seems happy with randomly busting out with a gleeful "super rocketship!," which is my all-time favorite (so far) William expression. It doesn't have to be relevant to anything. He just has to be in a good mood to say it. It's sort of a nice all-purpose "I'm happy" expression. Like "awesome" or "rock on" or "yahoo." And now that I look at all those word typed out, I've decided that "super rocketship" is a much cooler expression, too. So if you're ever just cheerful and feel like saying so, try saying "super rocketship!" It's oddly satisfying.