From the mouths of babes

I often tease J that he is an 82 year old man in a 4 year old body. He complains of back aches to get out of going to school and claims he can barely stand up unassisted when I try to get him dressed. He also says things that no little man ought to say.
We were walking through the grocery store last Friday night when he put his hand on mine as I was pushing the grocery cart. "Mimi," he said in that sweet voice of his, "do you wish I was still a baby?" I paused a minute, considering the question. "Only occasionally," I said. "I do miss you cuddling with me every night." He thought for a moment then said, "You can cuddle with me whenever you want but time has a way of changing." He then got distracted by the vast choices in cereal and pursued a more important discussion on why I should buy some sugar-encrusted cereal instead of the one in my hand.
Another point of interest lately for me is his desire to call me "Mimi" instead of "Mommy." He started this one day after we were having a conversation about names that went something like this:

J: "Mommy, why did you name me J----?"
Me: "Well, my grandfather who meant a great deal to me AND your daddy's grandfather were both named J----. We thought it would be a good name and a strong name for you to live up to and would also honor those people we loved."
J: "I wish you had named me George."
Me: "Why?"
J: "Because I love my PaPa." (J's grandfather is named George.)
Me: "That would have been a good name as well. You are right about that."
J: "Can I call you any name I want like you called me any name you wanted?"
Me: "That depends." (I was leary at this point.)
J: "I want to call you Mimi because no one else calls their Mommy Mimi."

Seems reasonable enough. So, about a third of the time now, I am Mimi and the rest of the time I suspect he forgets and I am Mommy. It is actually quite adorable when he says it. I doubt it will last long but you never know.
It's funny to me how that little mind works. Things that just don't occur to me on a daily basis are issues of great import to him. I wish I could crawl into that little old soul and just see what's going on in that brain for an hour or two. I imagine it would go something like this with topics changing about every 6 seconds: Star Wars fight - I'm hungry - Want to watch Curious George - Can I have candy? - Why am I named what I am? - Ghostbusters! - I'm hungry - Would you please? Could you please? Please won't you be my neighbor? - Fruit Snacks! Where are they? - "Daddy!" - Where are my Batman figures I just got? - Where is my magic wand? - There's Daddy! - "Let's play Star Wars." - I want to be Peter Pan. - and on and on and on and.......