He's growing up too quick! Make him stop!

Titus  has been growing up way too fast lately.

It started in mid-May when we went to the bike store to buy a new bicycle for our friend's five year old daughter Sophia.  We were talking with the salesman when suddenly we see Titus is riding around the store on the bike we were considering for Sophia.  The result, of course, was to buy not only Sophia a new bicycle but Titus a new 16 inch bicycle too.  And the Mighty Titus is only three.

Riding a new bigger bike that could go faster would seem enough, but not for the Mighty Titus.  On the first day riding his bike from home, he wanted to go down the stairs like his brothers.

A few weeks later, he then wanted to try riding his bike without training wheels.  At this point, it was no surprise he did pretty well.  The only thing stopping him from keeping them off is a couple inches of height to allow his feet to reach the ground so he can start and stop on his own.

He is not only fearless on the bike; he continues to be fearless in the water.  This summer he is also taking swim lessons with Coach Hanif.

Then the day Auntie Susie leaves, he pulls out the Aerobed and tells me he wants to sleep with the big boys.  I said "alright".  He drags the bed into their room and we set it up.  The whole time in my mind I'm thinking he'll be in here 15 minutes tonight but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I was wrong, he has not slept in my bed since.  We moved the beds around a little.  We put him in Lance's place because it has bumpers from being the old top of a bunk, and we moved Lance under Jared's bunk bed.  We also moved Titus' real mattress in from our room.  Wow, I forgot how nice and big our room looks with just one king bed instead of a king and a twin.  That said, I do miss him curling up with me at night and was a little sad at first.  However, its much better for him not be woken up each time Amber feeds anymore.

Now that he's been sleeping with the big boys, he suddenly started wearing underwear too.  Before he chose to just be naked all the time. Despite frequent pleading that he at least keep shorts on, he always came out of the bathroom naked.  Now he actually comes downstairs dressed in the morning.  Which is usually more than I can say about his big brothers.

Finally, he's determined to start playing Rookie baseball (skipping T-ball) and as you can see he's becoming a rather good hitter.

As you can see, for Titus, simply riding a new bike just wasn't enough growing up for one summer.

Thankfully, he's still Titus; mighty, wonderful and still saying the cutest things....

On our way to horseback riding the other day, as we pass the Bobcat Dealership, Titus yells....
         "I want one of those!".
           I respond "What would you do with it?"
          He quickly responds as if it was obvious
           "Ride it around the parking lot."  Fair enough.

And on another trip home, Titus says...

"Amber looks like a dog."
I respond gently,  "Girls generally don't like to be called dogs."
Titus thinks and responds inquisitively "Cats?"