Mr. Cool

Probably about a year ago, I went to lunch with Lea and her boys and Mom Saville to Del Taco. Not necessarily uncommon, but this particular time, I actually ordered a kids meal for Michael, and the toy inside was a pair of goofy sunglasses with green lenses. They were too big for Michael, and now, a year later, the two ear-perch pieces are gone. Somehow, they ended up in the backseat of the car, and when Michael would climb in, he's see them and go, "Oh, my glasses!" and would then try to put them on his face. So, when I saw kids size sunglasses at the dollar store, I had to get them: 

Since Michael's birth, I have often stood amazed by how much personality is packed into this tiny little person, and as he keeps growing and gaining more words in his vocabulary, he keeps getting funner and funner. Like the other night, he wanted his picture taken. And since he was sticking out his tongue, I thought I'd join him: 

Brian said that a few weeks ago, he heard Michael playing in the other room. Here's the conversation:

      Michael in his normal voice: You're not a car; you're a bus!

      Michael in a falsetto voice: I'm not a car; I'm a bus! 

      Michael in a falsetto, dramatic voice: Oh no! (car goes off the end of the hearth).

Not too long after this happened, Michael and I were driving back home after a trip to the grocery store. Here's the conversation I heard:

      Michael in his falsetto voice: Are you Daddy?

      Michael in a deeper-than-normal voice: Yes, I'm Daddy. And you're Michael.

      Michael falsetto: Yes. Are you a boy?

      Michael deep: Yes, I'm a boy. And you're a boy.

Several weeks ago, I made a meal in one of our crock pots. Apparently, I haven't done many crockpot meals since we moved into the house because when Brian went to put the crock pot away, he wasn't sure where to put it. Finally, he decided to put it in a cupboard with our tupperware. Michael was watching from the other room, and then came over to Brian in the kitchen and said, pointing to a different cupboard, "It goes there." Sure enough, Brian found the other crockpot in that cupboard, and we had a good laugh over it. 

He's also been praying a lot lately--all by himself! Sometimes, if we hesitate too long trying to figure out who's turn it is to pray, Michael will just start going off. And other times, we have to remind him about the essential things before he closes his prayer. Two weeks ago, we were in the Dollar Store, and all of a sudden, he started into a prayer. Last night, he blessed the food before going to bed (we've all done it, of course, but that was a first for Michael), and tonight, he blessed us that Family Home Evening would "nourish and strengthen us". And "Bless Daddy come home safe" often makes its way into his prayers, even when Daddy is kneeling right next to us. He'll also randomly bless people. For a while there, Uncle Shayne was getting lots of extra prayers, and he randomly blessed Baby Kallen, a baby in our ward. He was probably reminded of Baby Kallen when he was prompted to bless Uncle Callan, but still. We love that he loves to pray, and we hope it lasts throughout his life. 

Last week, we were stopped at a light on Orem Center Street, under an over-pass, waiting to get on the 15 when Michael asked, "Are we hiding, Mommy?" Ha ha!

He's great at spotting construction vehicles, especially excavators. He's probably one of the few that thinks all the construction around us is awesome. "A cement truck!" "A Dump Truck!" And of course, the time we were driving together and he was silent for a good ten minutes and then he yelled from the backseat, "A CRANE!" That startled me a little bit. His favorite, however, seems to be "Excavator!" He also notices buses, trucks, fire hydrants, smoke detectors, fans, and speaker in stores. 

He also loves talking to his loved ones on the phone, and I laugh at the things he has to say. It's fun that he can recall events that happened several days before, like when he told Brian about how he got in trouble at Lea's for hitting Danny with a golf club. Brian re-told the story to me, and it directly matched up to what Lea had said to me. And on Sunday, when we asked him what they talked about in his class, he immediately responded, "Temples!" 

He's really into doing things all by himself, which is good and bad at the same time. He'll throw a fit if we lift him into his car seat or his bed. He always tries to open the heavy glass doors at church, and I try to hide the fact that I'm giving him a little help; otherwise, we'd never leave that building. Stubborn boy!