Ethan stinks.  He does.  I told him to get into the shower the other night and I could smell him standing behind me.  Only, when I looked, he wasn't there.  He had already stepped into the shower but his lingering smell was so awful that I was convinced he was inches away from me.  That is a really terrible smell!

Austin isn't any better.  Once that kid takes off his shoes, I feel like I need to evacuate the house.  The boys' socks are practically able to stand on their own after the boys peel them off.  The hampers would smell if the boys ever got their clothes inside of them.  Instead, they are usually the nicest smelling things in their rooms.

(Alaina never smells...naturally.  She's a girl.  Need I say more?)

So.  This isn't news.  We all know that boys smell.  It has become such an constant fact, that I tend to forget that those two big kids didn't start out that way.  In the back of my mind, I remember that they started the same way that little Jason did...smelling sweet with that elusive, warm, milky baby smell.

With Jason these days, that baby smell isn't so prominent, but if you snuggle real close to his neck, you'll catch a whiff of it.  Even if you don't find it at first, you will find that the child still doesn't have that big boy smell.  Sweat.  Bad breath.  Dirt covering over other patches of dirt.  Nasty tennis shoe smell.  None of that.  You can grab his toes with such confidence that he is still so pure that you'll stick in right into your mouth to nibble on his toes.  When he cries, you'll kiss his hands (after a cursory glance of course) and cover his little, chubby cheeks with smooches.

Once I start kissing that child, it doesn't seem like I have the ability to stop.  I've got to get it all in before he starts smelling like the others.  I still kiss those big boys, but mostly after a shower.  And now they only tolerate kisses on the face.  Sometimes I sneak in a few neck kisses.  Can you imagine what they would do if I grabbed their feet and started biting their toes?  (I just grossed myself out with the thought!)

Maybe that is why God made boys smell so bad.  It is the only thing that stops their mothers from completely embarrassing them in front of their friends.  A natural repellant, if you will.  If it wasn't for 'the smell' do you think we'd ever start to cut those apron strings?  I think I may be on to something here.

So, I'll keep on kissing Jason, but the time is ticking on by.  He's already so big.  Yesterday we took our first intentional walk together.  Sure, he's been running all over the place for the last couple of months however, this was the first time we just thought we'd take a walk for the fun of it.  It wasn't a long walk.  Just down the road to the mail box.  While we were strolling, with his arm stretched straight up in the air so that we could hold hands, I looked down at my sweet boy and told myself to remember the moment.

Jason still does a jilting, lurching toddle that gets exponentially stiffer when we put on those clunky shoes of his.  His pudgy little hand still clenches tight over two of my fingers.  He takes a good three steps to every one of mine.  Sudden turns or cracks in the cement will require a lot of toe-balancing and be coupled with a few falls on his tush.   It's a slow way to get the mail, but I find myself wishing I could slow it all down even further.

Here is a silly little video.  Rob turned on the radio and Jason started dancing away.  The music isn't my personal favorite, but I would have missed the moment trying to find a better song.  What a little cutie.