Sucker

The house is quiet, for once, so I'm taking the time to sit and get some work done while everyone else sleeps. No TV, no radio, just me and my files and statute books.

Then I hear some indistinct chattering that sounds Zeke-like.

We have been working on going to bed "like a big boy." Meaning no fussing, no crying. For every night that he does it, he gets a sticker on his chart. For every three stickers, he gets a trip to the book store to pick out a new book. It's working well, or so I thought.

I poke my head around the wall from the kitchen to look down the stairs. He has turned on his bedside lamp, and I can hear him reading to himself.

I go down and stand in the door of his room. He's sitting on the floor looking at a book.

"What's going on, honey? You know it's bedtime."

He looks up, smiling broadly at me. "Hi, Mama!"

"Hi, sweetie. It's bedtime. Time to turn out the lights and go to sleep."

"Oh, but I need to read this book." His bright blue eyes are wide and innocent-looking, but he's totally playing me.

I walk over to him. "I know you want to read the book, but it's late and time to go to sleep."

He climbs into bed, taking his book with him. It's the farm board book.

"I need to sit and read, Mama. Do you want to sit and read with me?" He's got that adorable toddler pronunciation going, so it comes out, "do you want to sit and read wif me?"

I look at him. He's so insanely gorgeous, and so sweet. Lately Josie has been lighting up like the sun whenever Jason is around, but Zeke is mine. When we went up to the mountains this weekend, he was chilly in the brisk morning air when we went for a walk, so I gave him my bright magenta fleece pullover to wear. It hung down to his ankles like a cassock. We walked along the river, chatting and stopping to throw rocks and look at the guys fly-fishing in the water. All he wanted was to hang out with me and tell me about all of the things that he finds so fascinating.

I look at his hilarious feet, which are exactly like mine. My nice high arches, but also my ridiculous 4th and 5th toes that are stubby and curled in like little cheetos.

I look at the book, which we read the night before, and had a remarkably good time with. First we looked at the pictures of the animals and I explained the different names for mommies and babies -- nanny and kid for goats, mare and foal for horses, that kind of thing. When we got to the page with all the pictures of fruit, Zeke said, "let's have a snack." And he pretended to pick up a grape off the page and eat it. "Would you like a grape, Mama? They're good grapes!" So we had a snack of peaches, berries, potatoes, peas, and peppers. Then we counted. "Count the strawberries wif me, Mama! One, two, three..."

It won't always be like this. He'll grow out of his mommy stage and want to do everything by himself, or with Jason, or with his friends. He won't always want to snuggle and tell me about every aspect of his day.

"Mama, do you want to sit and read with me?"

I look at the clock. It's after 9 -- so totally past his bedtime. And then I climb into bed with him.

"Of course I do, sweetheart."

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Zeke has already earned one trip to the bookstore, and has another one due to him tonight. Here's a clip from our last trip. You can see why it's so much fun to go with him.