He is only 5 years old.....

We have had some pretty great conversations lately, Zech and I. Zechariah, my social butterfly who loves to talk, loves to socialize and be around people, loves to evangelize and loves to tell us all sorts of wonderful things. He is inquisitive, he thinks very deeply about certain issues, he gets upset easily and he has such an amazingly sensitive heart. For such a fiery spirited little boy, his heart is so gentle and soft, it really catches me off guard.

Lately though our conversations have been centered around a young princess in his class named Kate. Yes he has his own Princess Kate. I listen, ask questions, and I laugh and then it hits me.

HE IS ONLY 5 YEARS OLD!!!

I can not believe I am having these conversations with my 5 year old! It is kind of scaring me, ok freaking me out!

It all started with him asking us a lot of questions about marriage:

- When I am a grown up man, I can get married right?
- I need to marry a woman that knows Jesus?
- Maybe I can marry the girl and I know... teach her about Jesus? (we got out scripture for this one--;o)

It then switched from questions to matter-of-fact statements.

- I am going to marry a beautiful princess mom.
- When I get married I am going to have 5 kids, 3 boys and two girls (he had names for them all too, by the way and he is quite adamant about naming one of his boys after his Dad--John---because he knows that Zechariah in the Bible had a son John)
- My wife will have long hair just like you mom (such a sweet thing, cause I am hating the long hair right now).

Then a specific name started being mentioned and this is how our conversation went:

Zech: Mom, I really like Kate.

Me: Oh, why do you like Kate?

Zech: She is so beautiful and she talks so sweet. (yup his words exactly--my little Romeo)

Me: Wow, what does she look like? (I am trying to figure out who she is now)

Zech: She is just beautiful.

Me: Well, what does she look like?

Zech: I don't know, she is just beautiful.

Me: You will have to show me who she is when I pick you up next. (little did I think that he would.....)

So yes, the next day I went to pick him up and remember, Zech is not shy, and really knows nothing about being discreet. So right there in the boot room as parents are rushing in to pick their little 5 YEAR OLDS up, Zech comes running up to me and yells at the top of his excited little lungs:

"look Mom, there is Kate, see Mom, that's Kate"

I am beat red at this point and I look up and see beautiful little Kate and her Mom.....I smile and nod 'hi'. I mean really what do I say---well hello Kate's Mom, my 5 year old is infatuated with your 5 year old daughter and thinks she is beautiful---let's arrange a marriage!

I should know by now, that Zech is a black and white kind of kid. Everything is very literal to him.

I thought that his love for Kate would subside and that it was 'just a phase'. However, just this week he came home and told me:

Zech: Mom, I told Kate that I am going to marry her and Nick is going to marry Ema.

Me: (choking on my water) oh really....

Zech: (before I could say anything further) she smiled at me Mom, when I said I was going to marry her, yup she smiled at me. (you should have seen how proud he was that she smiled at him)


All I can say is that he is only 5 years old. AHHH!