Growing too fast....

I have watched my wonderful nephew grow up way too fast. I still watch him 3 days a week but am not spending as much 1 on 1 time as I used to. You see, he is growing up and wants to play with his friends now while I babysit. We do very little together just one on one.

Today we were in the car for almost two hours driving to get tickets to the local Orioles farm team. I get them ahead to get the seats we want. That was two hours of just talk time with the commute to and fro with traffic and a pit stop. We stopped at a local ice cream shop. I let him go in alone. I could see him from the outside windows and watched him all excited to wait his turn. He was spinning the quarters on the counter, dropping them and just being his usual silly self. He turned and gave me a big wave with his gorgeous smile. It just warmed my heart. He walked out with a huge ice cream for himself and a small drink for me but he was so proud of doing it by himself.

We talked and talked about anything and everything in the car. He showed me some new signs he learned from his school buddies. One I did not like and tried to explain to him that it was a bad sign and we don't do that. It was not the middle finger , we went over that years ago. This is one that implements what happens between a man and woman when they should be married. He kept inquiring as to what it meant. I thought about it and told him it was something married men and women do and that is all he needed to know. He said that he knows what married men and women do . They have babies and the baby comes out the woman's koochie. I laughed and laughed. I asked who taught him this because I was afraid I was getting on thin ice with this subject. He said , " My Mommy did."  I laughed some more because she is an RN and usually uses the medical term not the slang term. I told him that the sign is what men and women do to have a baby and he was satisfied. I also reminded him it is not a good sign or gesture and not to use it again.

This has created a dilemma. My Mom thinks I should tell my sister. The problem is I am his safety person and I told him I would not discuss things with his Mom unless it will harm him. His parents have a tendency to over react. Even if I tell her things to put a bug in her ear, she does not protect me. She will tell him I said
this or that and then he distrusts me. He obviously trusts me and I don't want to break his trust. I have told her some things that I thought would hurt him so she could talk to him about it. This to me is not a problem until it happens again.

In the mean time, I will always be here for him to feel safe and be able to talk to. I don't know that I could love my own child anymore than I do him. I love him so much, even when he is being a spoiled booger. What I have learned is to slow down and enjoy the moments because they grow up way too fast.

The highlights of my day .... watching him smile and seeing his laugh lines around his mouth. Oh , How I love this child.