Growing up

There are so many ways I notice the children growing up every day.  Sometimes it’s subtle, other times it’s like a hammer over the head!  Today Lex and I went grocery shopping together.  We decided to swing by the toy store to do a little birthday shopping for Eve along the way.  We got to the Powerhouse Mall, home of the only toy store in the area, walked in, and Lex started wandering ahead.  As we passed the stairs I said, “Aren’t we going up to the toy store?”  He said, “Oh, I forgot where the stairs were.”  WHAT?!  It used to be that he could find that store in his sleep.  The routine was, up the stairs, watch the train for awhile (until mommy is bored to tears), then on to the toy store.  Today he picked out a thoughtful gift for Eve at the store, and some Legos for himself (there’s still a kid in him!).  As we walked down the hall I asked if he wanted his Lego sets now or when we get in the car.  He said, “Well, we can leave them in the back until we get home.  Not much I can do with them in the car anyway.”  Umm…. true.  And very mature.  There were many, many times in the past I had to ask him to please, please not open a bag of Legos in the car, despite his insistence that he could keep them all together and build the model as we drive.  Now, he realizes the silliness of that and has developed the patience to wait.  On the way out, as we passed the train, I asked if he remembered how he used to love pushing the button and watching the train.  He said yeah, paused for a moment, then added, “Really it’s pretty boring.  I mean, it just goes around and around.”  Sigh.  Yes.  It does, and it is, but that’s a grown-up observation.  Gone is the little boy enthusiasm… until we walked outside and saw the Lindt chocolate store across the parking lot…. ;)