Tuesday, September 23, 2014

"My name is T-A-J"

My Taj is about to turn 6 years old and I wanted to keep a bit of him preserved right here on the ol' blog for those times when he is a teenager and I wish we were having conversations like the one below. This is a typical conversation that Taj and I have any given moment on any given day and all within a 5 minute time span.

"Which one is your favorite mom? Deep snow or a little snow?" A little snow. "Tell mine what's my favorite." Okay, what's your favorite? "Deep snow. Mom which one is your favorite? The fourwheeler that drives like this (look at me mom, look at me) with big tires in the snow. Or the fourwheeler with tires that are flat and drive like this (look at me mom, look at me). Why they do that? Why the tires go flat?" I don't know,  maybe they ran something over. "Which one is your favorite mom? The race car that starts like this and the doors open like this (look at me mom, look at me) or the car that just does this?" The first one. "Which one?" The one that opens like this and starts like this (picture me repeating the same actions he did for me). "How bout you like the other one? Tell mine what's my favorite." What's your favorite? "The one that opens like (look at me mom, look at me) this and starts like (look at me mom, look at me). It jus won't start. It won't start. It's having a hard time. I fink the battery is dead." Uh oh, you better fix it. "I jus can't fix it. Steve is going to have to fix it. Watch this I'm going to push the gas on this (picture him pushing his foot to the floor and sounding like a Harley Davidson sitting in the garage idling). It's smoking a lot when I gas my race car. It gets smoke on my exhaust pipe when I drive on the dirt. It blows the dirt, but sometimes I drive it on the road and it doesn't get smoke on the exhaust pipe." Not good dude. You might have to drive it somewhere else. "How bout we buy a boat? That would be a good idea huh?  And we can jus jus go outside....

 We talk  A LOT about cars, trucks, boats, camp trailers, tractors, exhaust pipes, batteries, and whether or not something has a diesel engine or a gas engine. We also talk a lot about Halloween and Christmas and which is my favorite and which is his favorite. He is talking my ear off right now and in the last 10 minutes we've covered topics like race cars, monster caves, ice caves, tires, etc. Once he gets his mind on something, you can be sure you are going to hash it over and over and over again. You have to be careful too to actually listen and not say "Yep" or "That's right" or "Sure" because one time he asked me if he could smoke those "white sticks" when he grows up just like the Ghostbusters do and I told him "Sure thing!" and then when I realized what I agreed too, I had to back pedal mega fast, haha. He informed us that he is going to be a Ghostbuster when he grows up. Please never grow up Taj! 

Taj is very smart when it comes to anything with a motor, that he loves running outside, riding his bike, driving fourwheelers, going down big slides, camping and playing with his little sister Haiven and helping out with baby Sawyer. He is also very sensitive and loves creatures of all kinds. I've had a lot of "roley-poleys," worms, and snails in my house this summer. His graceful little sister Haiven accidentally stepped on his "baby" snail a couple of days ago and he was so upset that he came in the house and told me with watery eyes that he was going to "pray for the snail at bedtime tonight," and he did. He prayed that the snail was with Heavenly Father and that Heavenly Father would make him alive again in our backyard. Taj and Brannon were at the Davis County Demolition Derby a couple weeks ago and witnessed a man get crushed by one of the cars (the man died at the hospital that night). It was pretty traumatic and Taj said a prayer for him too when he and Brannon got back to the truck. We've learned that he is more intuitive than he seems and is so very observant. He notices things that nobody else notices, adults included! His memory is amazing as well. He remembers places and directions like you wouldn't expect a 5-year-old to. It's amazing really.

We are grateful for Taj and his unique perspective on life. He always brings our attention to the little things and helps us to recognize the importance of slowing down to enjoy the small things in life. He loves hanging out with his family and he is so forgiving, which I'm very glad for since he is the first child and we are still trying to figure out what the heck we are doing. We love you stud!
 This is his first day of kindergarten. His teacher is Mrs. Piper and when she called his name on the first day, he proudly shouted, "My name is T-A-J!"
Here he is waiting to go inside with his cute little classmates. He told me this week, "How bout you jus jus stay in the van and I can walk to my line by myself." And so it begins...another year and he will be too embarrassed to give me a hug and a kiss goodbye.