breakfast with the bear

Grey Bear and I headed out for a special breakfast this morning, just he and I. I was excited. He was excited. His choice: Chicfila of course. 

With his baby brother's quickly approaching due date I really wanted a little one on one time with my first born. I don't get much of that these days and really really miss it.

I had intended for us to have some special time over our biscuits. I wanted him to know how much I value him and his heart. I asked the Lord early this morning to help me communicate that to him in a way he could understand. I really think just "breakfast with Mommy" was the amount of communication we needed at almost 4 years old. 

We like to talk with one another. He has never had a problem with his verbal communication. Sometimes I see this as a negative thing when he wants to talk all day long. And then God brings me to my senses and reminds me how special it is that I get to see and hear his heart all day long. It's a gift that he desires to communicate with me. So this morning I took full advantage of his communication skills. 

We talked about all sorts of things. 

About how happy he was to eat at Chicfila with JUST Mommy. About how big he is that he can squeeze his own jelly out for his biscuit. About how he wished Brooke was there to play on the playground with him. About how he's going to be 4 soon and that means he's going to be REALLY big but when he's 5 he will be REALLY EVEN BIGGER BIGGER. About how he can't wait for his baby brother to be born so he can hold him and kiss him and he'll have to tell Tucker not to squish him. About how funny Tucker is.  About how he loves Marmie and Poppie's Chicfila best and he wished we could go to that one soon. About making funny noises. About Krista's birthday today. About his favorite color green and how he loves the sanitizing wipes right outside the playground. About how he already had stuffed 3 into his pocket to take home. 

These were very much all topics he brought up in a span of about 10 minutes. 

And he talks with his hands just like his daddy.

Another mother of sons recently gave me some really great advice. She said to start at as young an age as possible constantly asking them specific questions, easy questions, so that they will get used to communicating in a specific way. I thought this was a wonderful idea to be very intentional about certain things with all three of my boys. I ask questions all the time but sometimes I'm not as intentional as I'd like to be. As I mentioned earlier, Grey has no problem communicating, but communicating what HE wants to communicate. Answering specific questions is another story.

I had 5 specific questions I wanted to ask him this morning. 

Some were quick answers and some required a little more thought.

1. What's your favorite color: "Mommy, you know my favorite color is green."

2. What's your favorite animal: "A giraffe of course."

3. What's your favorite food: "Ummm, maybe chicken. No no no. Jellybeans!" 

4. What's your favorite thing to do with:

Mommy? "Go to breakfast"

Daddy? "Build with Legos and play outside." 

Tucker? "Play Toy Story and fight with swords."

5. What's your favorite thing about God (I understood this was very open ended): "The Bible. I love to read the Bible." 

Then he cleaned his hands off with one of 20 sanitizing wipes he had collected.

Then he said, "Mom, you're a good person and I love you." 

Oh that Grey Bear. 

What a special time with this kiddo. Nothing too out of the ordinary, just a little one on one time. I love to see that smile and hear that sweet little voice. These are precious moments to remember always!