It's so hard to say good-bye...

Where does it go?
All the cute toddler lingo, baby jargon, the precious cadence of a 3-year-old...
It goes away. That's what. Just away. Bye-bye. See ya. Glad to have known ya.

These past couple of weeks, we've had to say bittersweet good-byes to some of lil man's words. It's fun to hear his new "mature" language, but there's just something about hearing a mispronounced word come out of those plump little lips that melts me into a big fat mommy puddle.

"pookie" is now "computer"
"high skoo mookie" is now "High School Musical"
"see ya'll" is now "cereal"
"Babbee" is now "Bradleigh"
the "ABC Song" ...? His "V"s and "Z"s aren't "B"s anymore AND he correctly articulates "LMNOP"
His once precious way to hold up 3 fingers is now the "normal" way. (boooring)

And the absolute WORST one is...sniff...it's too hard to even admit it's gone...
"flanks" is now...sniff...I almost can't stand it..."THanks" Ugh!
You know the worst part? The entire family now says "flanks" or "flank you" because it's cute as cupcakes and he's said it that way for so blessedly long. So now when we say "flanks", we get an odd look out of the corner of lil man's eye. I'm pretty sure he's thinking: What is wrong with them?

Fortunately, it's not all gone. The cute-speak, I mean.
His rendition of "Popcorn Popping" is PRICELESS!
I love hearing about the "akopot" trees. :)

And finally, two lil man moments:

*Last night, lil man was saying our family prayer and he decided to throw in the Blessing Song from Preschool. I was kneeling directly across from him and just HAD to watch him sing this song. He is so serious and just so distractingly cute...I couldn't help myself. He obviously noticed because when he finished, he informs me: "You eyes were open. Dat was fwustwating to me!"

*I asked lil man what he wanted to be for Halloween. I didn't offer any suggestions...I wanted to hear what he really wanted without any ideas from me. He immediately said: Santa Claus!
That is fine with me...very cute, even, but I wanted to make sure this is what he REALLY wanted to be. I asked him about SpongeBob or Cars or Wubbzy or a fireman or a builder, but his mind was made up. He said: "But evewybody loves Santa Claus!"

Point made.