mowing the lawn

I got home yesterday to a thrilled little boy. I came in through the back door, he heard me and came running into the kitchen and i came walking into the living room around the other way, so we missed each other. I turned around and he came slamming into me with the biggest grin! I picked him up and kissed him about 10 times, he said na-ni, garble-de booly, cars! I think he wanted to tell me something about his cars! So I said, wow, you played with cars today? cool, then he wanted to show me something that my mom brought to him, so he said, ga-ga, ga-ga, and pointed to my mom (he calls her Ga-Ga for baba). She came over to me with this clear plastic bottle that had a lady bug in it. In actually I think it was a japanese beetle because it was orange and lady bugs are red,but I went along with it. Oooohhh lady bug, wow, then he holds the bottle and he pulls it really close to his face and gazes at it for like, 3 minutes, which is a long time for a 2 year old. Then he says ouside, ouside, mom tells me he wants to let it go outside. So we go outside and I open the lid, the lady bug crawls to the top of the container and hangs out there for a second or two, then jumps onto the deck, he is amazed! he looks at me with these brilliant eyes and says, WOW! then the lady bug takes flight and flys away...... Well, he wasnt aware of that, so he then makes a very serious frown face and starts complaining. GARBLETHEUTHUGOSE, SHOEURHGLMASNDOT, Uh-OH! I tell him that the lady bug flew away and thats ok. We go back in the house. A few minutes later he is very concerned about the lady bug again and grabs my hand and walks me to the back door, to let him go see where the lady bug went. So I oblige. We walk outside, this time he walks down the steps of the deck, and makes a beeline for his lawn mower, the smaller version of the grown up lawnmower. He begins pushing the lawnmower and I am amazed how he is mimicking what we do. My father in law cuts the grass on tuesdays when they come to babysit and he must watch him the whole time. He is pushing it forward then doubling back, then pushing it forward, then walking in a pattern and the entire time he is not looking at anything but the grass. He IS cutting the grass. No doubt in his mind. I watched him for 20 minutes, I am not kidding, 20 minutes, pushing the lawnmower. Then I was getting hungry, so I said hey, let's go inside and get some watermelon. He looks at me, considers the offer and decides that he will. So he pushes the lawnmower into "its" spot, wherever that is, than comes up the stairs, looks at me, pushes the doorhandle and says, ne-non. ne-non. I say watermelon? He shakes his head yes and we go inside....... I know these stories are not that remarkable. I know they are just simple toddler stories that are most likely the same for every family who has ever had a toddler, but to me these stories are the cake of life. The rich, sweet, delectable moments of childhood that my son will appreciate when he is wondering what kind of kid he was. These are the stories I will refer back to when I am missing his baby years, and when he is learning to drive, or getting married or leaving for college.