Kade jumps
Originally uploaded by kyleroth.

Every time Kade opens his mouth, I tell myself to write down what he said so I can remember it later…of course, I never do. Instead, I lay in bed at night struggling to remember not only what he said, but how he said it. Here are a few examples that I’ve managed to pull from the vault that is my brain…

A few weeks ago, Kade, Liv and I were touring the Dinosaur exhibit at the zoo and I was explaining to him that you could tell what dinosaurs ate by their teeth. I told him that the dinos with sharp teeth ate meat and the ones with flat teeth ate plants…I know it’s not that cut and dry, but he’s 3 for god’s sake. That night at dinner, Kade was telling Kyle all about his day and I told Kade to tell his dad what he learned about the dinosaurs. Kade said, “oh, you mean how you can tell if they eat ham or salad.” Sheer genius I tell you…sheer genius.

We were talking recently about getting Kade a big bed because he’s swiftly growing out of his toddler-sized one, and he said he wanted “a tall one that’s like 2 beds.” We told him that was called a bunk bed, and asked him if he’d sleep on top or bottom. Of course he said top, and Kyle said that if he slept up there he’d have to wait for us to get him down in the morning instead of crawling in bed with us. Kade quickly snapped back, “no dad…there’s a ladder.”

He has been interested in the workings of his body lately, especially his pee-pee. The other day he tells me, “my pee-pee’s big but don’t worry, in a minute it will be smaller.” At least we know it works…

We were at the farmpark when a gigantic hog comes sauntering out of her pen…complete with full, sagging teats that nearly scraped the ground. Kade immediately noticed this and said, “mama, that pig has a whole lotta pee-pees.” “No, honey. Those are boobies.” Probably not the best term…I know…but that’s what we call them around here.

I love how he calls urinals “sink pottys.”

I don’t love that when Kyle tried to encourage him to go poop on the potty by taking a book to read, Kade said, “like Mama does.” Come on, do you really think I have the time to go in there and read…yeah right.

My favorite moment was on Friday night. Kyle, Kade, Liv and I had all gone to Legacy Village for dinner, shopping and requisite bookstore play. Kade threw a temper tantrum all the way to the car when it was time to go, but on the drive home he says, “daddy, thanks for dinner.” That my friends makes this job, as thankless as it can seem at times, so worth it (nevermind that he didn’t thank me…I’m sure he meant to say mama, but the word daddy came out…it’s a common mistake around here).