He Isn't Even Slightly Phased By You

Oh to be young again. 
Carefree.. without a worry in the world.


Ok, wait.. he does have worries. He worries about when he will get to play the Wii next. He cares if we have dessert each night. And he definitely cares if he's getting shots at each of his doctor's visits.


But my son... my gorgeous and intelligent little 7 year old.. doesn't care what people think. 


When I tell him to get his clothes ready for school, he simply grabs the 1st pair of shorts in the drawer without considering the color or pattern. Then he goes to the closet and grabs the 1st shirt he sees... not stopping to think if it will match his shorts or if it even still fits him any more. 


He doesn't care. Appearance means NOTHING to my son. 


He sees nothing wrong with giving the toys he no longer plays with to his friends for birthday gifts. He does not see the need for the toy to be in it's original package.. unopened.. un-enjoyed. NEW is not important to him... and he doesn't think it matters to other people. He would be excited to receive a game from his friend... not ever looking to see if it's ever been opened or where it came from.


He knows that I buy clothes for him at the thrift store whenever I see something cute in his size. Clothes that have been previously worn by another child... clothes without their tags on them... and he doesn't care. The only thing he questions at theses times is why I keep buying him clothes that he doesn't need!


My son is not phased by labels. He couldn't tell you who any of his shoes were made by. The only labels this kid cares about are Wii and Xbox.. his two best friends. (And I guarantee if there was a knock-off video game brand I would have bought that instead of the Wii.... and he wouldn't have cared one bit.)


My son cares about people's feelings... when it comes to them being sad or happy. He just doesn't care what they think about him. He's a kid.. of course he wants to be liked by the other kids on the playground... but he's not on a mission to impress anyone.


He's a practical and resourceful little man. He will think of a way to re-purpose ANYTHING I want to throw away. He could live on mac & cheese and chicken nuggets daily, and thinks I'm wasting money buying anything else. 


The world hasn't corrupted my baby yet. He hasn't been impacted negatively by TV advertising and celebrities. Greed hasn't taken over his pretty little mind.. yet. 


I am realistic and know the day will probably come. The day when he HAS to have the latest Nikes... or HAS to buy his friend the new video game for his birthday.... The day might come.... and he might start to CARE...


But until then, I will enjoy his innocence and lack of concern. 


And I will wish that I was more like him...... 

Vegas With My Baby

After very little discussion, Drew decided we'd be going back to Las Vegas for our vacation this year. This makes 3 years in a row.... The only other place he even considered was Miami... to see a Dolphins game. And since I knew there was no way I'd be able to save up $3,000 in a few months, we settled on Vegas. 

** Don't mind my horrible pictures, we are in desperate need of a new camera**

First off, Vegas is HOT.. ridiculously HOT. at 8:30 in the morning it was already 99 degrees... YUCK. We stayed at the Monte Carlo again because we LOVE their pools. The wave pool, lazy river, and regular pool. Drew would have gladly stayed out at the pool all day, every day... but even for this Summer-lovin' Mamma, it was just too stinking hot. 

We pretty much spent our mornings at the pool, afternoons napping in our room, and nights on the strip. 

Our lives really aren't all that hectic and crazy... but we both really needed this vacation. 3 days away from everyone we know.. no work.. no school.. no computers, video games or phones (except one call from his Dad). We just needed a break. 

On our last night there we went to see The Tournament of Kings at Excalibur. 

I was kind of hesitant to take him since it was completely new to him (and he HATES new things), and they warn of smoke, fire and loud noises (all 3 things that he HATES)... but I've always wanted to go, so we gave it a shot. He was pretty reluctant... but once he accepted that I was making him go anyway, he was fine. 

And I'm SOOOO glad we went because he LOVED it!! All he's wanted to do the last few days is have sword fights and joust in the living room. There were moments (fireworks and cannons) that freaked him out, but he handled it really well. And the food... oh I was nervous about that too. This kid is a super picky eater.. and the idea of him eating without utensils was kind of funky to me... 

But once again, Drew surprised me. He loves "Chicken on a bone" (drumsticks) so he was excited to rip them off the chicken and gobble them up. Of course the brocoli was never touched.. but that was to be expected. It was really a great night there. We loved the show, the food was great and we had a blast.

On our last day there Drew asked if we could go to the Wax Museum. There weren't that many "people" he recognized.. but he enjoyed seeing the ones we did. And since we were the 2nd ones to enter that morning, we pretty much had the place to our selves... and were out in less than 20 minutes.

Of course Michael Jackson was his favorite... but he was a little nervous to stand next to him.. Some of those statues look so real it's creepy. 

All in all it was a good little vacation for us. But once we got home we both agreed that we'd had about enough time alone together... so he went to school the next day to play for a couple hours while I ran some errands.. alone. Guess some times you can have too much of a good thing.