Sebo loves counting down the days until something happens. It’s his way of understanding the passing of time. He will ask, “Am I going back to Granny’s house in three days?” He understands the phrases soon and in a little while. He gets it when we say we have to leave at 8:45 so he has to start getting dressed at 8:15. One of his favorite Christmas presents was this little red Chick-Fil-A watch that his friend Ben gave to him. He gets time, and strangely always has, which is good because I don’t really know how you teach somebody about time. It’s too weird. And it’s all relative and changes constantly and then they are bound to ask if time travel is possible, and I just don’t know how to deal with it. In the end I usually just refer people to Back To The Future or Kate & Leopold and let them decide for themselves.

What was I talking about?

Oh right. To sum up, the kid digs time.

Sebo has one of those little potties in his room that we have to empty after he uses it. He also uses the regular bathroom, which he calls My Big Potty, and is right next to his bedroom, but he likes having options. As long as he’s using something other than diapers, I’m cool with it. Yesterday he wanted me to help him turn on some lights so that he could go to the potty. I did, following behind him so I could turn the lights on, and he went into his room to use what he calls My Little Potty. As soon as he entered his room, he turned to me, asked me to wait in the bathroom for him, and as he was closing his bedroom door for privacy he yelled out “for two days.”

School started back today after nearly three weeks of winter vacation. It’s been a bit crazy having the little guy home all this time and trying to still work (seeing as how our home office is three feet from the living room) but overall it’s been fun. Actually it’s been a lot of fun. We spent lots of time in our pajamas playing Wii or coloring in books or stacking Legos. And he is SO fun to be around, I don’t know what kind of phase he’s in right now but his mannerisms are ridiculously cute.

But he is ready to get back to being with his friends. Half the time (at least) that he was off he was sick. And now he’s feeling better and he is so ready to run and jump and laugh and chase all of his friends that he hasn’t seen in weeks. Which is a really sweet thing, seeing him, even at 3 (and a half) years old, develop friendships with other kids. Some are from school, some are from church, some are just from life. At home we know all their names. Lucas. Noah. Zack. Campbell. Nolan. Abby. Cash. Joshua.

At the end of last year at pre-school Sebo’s teachers gave him a photo album full of shots they had taken of him and his friends throughout the year. As the winter break grew long, at least once a day he handed the book to us and asked us to read it to him. He definitely loves his mommy and daddy but he misses his friends. And he’s proud of his relationships with them.

Sebo is asleep. Most of the time Michelle and I take turns laying down with him to help him fall asleep. Actually replace “most of the time” with “pretty much every time.” But I don’t mind. In fact, I look forward to it. He falls asleep on his own at friends’ houses and at school, and he has been known to drift off from time to time on his own at home too. But mostly he likes to cuddle with us so he can let go and fall asleep. And I know he’s three (and a half). I know there are people who think we shouldn’t let him run our lives this way, that we’re the parents and he needs to go to bed when and how we say, and we shouldn’t be doing this attachment parenting thing. But this is the way we like it. For now anyway. I am well aware that this won’t last. He won’t always want to be held, or to be snuggled. He’s got his whole life ahead of him when he can fall asleep on his own, in his own bed. And anytime he wants to, he can and we will be happy. But if he wants to be held, or wants to hold us, or wants to crawl into our bed to soothe a bad dream, then his mommy and me want to give that to him. It’s a small thing for us to do and it matters a whole lot. And sometimes, even as adults, I think there are times where we all just want to be held by someone we love so that we can just. let. go.

Sebo is being incredibly sweet this morning. Yesterday was Labor Day, and this Thursday-Friday the biz is closed so we can move it to our new condo in River Plantation. So today and tomorrow are going to be beasts, trying to knock out a week’s worth of design work in two days, on top of Michelle finishing up a cake top that delivers tomorrow (technically, it’s a very sweet candle holder that’s not actually topping a cake). And so back to sweet Sebo … we’ve kept him home from school today because he has been fighting a cough and runny nose since Saturday evening, and I’m going to take him to the doctor in about an hour and a half. They’ll probably tell us there’s nothing we can do, just push liquids, vitamins, get a priest, etc … but it’ll make me feel better since it’s only been about a week or so since he had a pretty vicious 24-hour bug. Just want to make sure all is well.His spirits are very up, he is in the hallway right now playing with his Red Retro Kitchen while I am trying to write some clients back about how we are going to handle the next couple weeks of deadlines. He keeps fixing me baskets of fruits and vegetables from his kitchen, and apparently Granny keeps calling on his personal line, so we keep “talking” to her. Right now a scary ghost has taken his food into his cardboard house and he’s asking me to go rescue it for him. Duty calls.