These Days Are Fleeting

Big Al Pirate

Big Al is always dressing up as something. He surprises me when he walks out of his room each day. I never know if I’m going to be the mother of a spy, “army man”, baseball player, football player, pirate…..the list goes on. Seriously, the boy rarely wears “normal” clothes – he’s always dressed as some kind of character!

Yesterday, he was a pirate.

He went out on the back deck to play, using the deck as his ship. We had a discussion last week about how the deck is not a pirate ship – especially when little boys tape their pirate flags to the guttering with packing tape. I generally don’t like for them to play on the deck because they always mess up my furniture and climb on the banisters. Really, I just don’t want the mess that they usually make.

I started out the door to fuss at him and to remind him that the deck isn’t a pirate ship. But, on my way out the door, I realized that Big Al is nearly half-way to his 12th birthday. Pretty soon, he isn’t going to be interested in dressing up as some character and playing with his brother on the back deck. I know the day will come when it isn’t “cool” to play dress up. And I know that day isn’t too far down the road for us. My little guy is growing up fast.

So, instead of telling him to get off the deck, I just reminded him that he’s not allowed to tape stuff to the gutters. Because these days are fleeting. And I want to enjoy them as much as he does.