Fear is fine; it serves a purpose.

Six weeks ago Charlie turned three-years-old. He loves super heroes, is an active little guy, and a non-stop talker. He makes observations about everything he sees, names the objects' colors, purposes, etc. He even talks in his sleep. I know because he spent the weekend with us. 

His older brothers went on a camping trip with their mom and dad. Mom said if he'd potty train fully he could go next time. I was brave and put him in super hero underpants. Two minutes later I heard him in the playroom shouting,  "Nana Linda! Nana, come see what happened. I so sawdy."

I hugged him and told him it was OKAY as I cleaned his puddle. Then he wanted to put his little blanket on the living room floor and jump the "puddle."

During the night he called out and rambled a bit. I waited to see if he would go back to sleep. He did until he didn't. At 2:00 a.m. I heard this little voice call, "Hewwwwo, anybody there?"

I laid down with him. He kicked me all night and jabbered off and on. Maybe he was overly-excited about our planned events. Our bank was opening a branch office, and they were having all sorts of attractions. Charlie enjoyed a free snow cone, free popcorn, but he refused a big helium-filled ballon. He's afraid of popping balloons. 

He was slightly interested in watching a young man, a balloon maker, twisting long ballooons into different characters such as Spiderman. When Charlie realized Spidey was made of balloons, he said, "Nope!"

He waited with anticipation for the Super Heroes to arrive. I explained that all I wanted was to take his picture with them, so we could show his brothers. He was all for it until they walked through the door. As you can see, he crossed his arms and flipped his entire body away from them. I snapped a photo and we left. 

Papa Bill asked him about it. He said, "I was scared, Papa."

What a good papa. Bill said, "Well Charlie, we have feelings like that to keep us safe. So when you feel afraid of something, that's your warning system. It's okay to feel afraid." 

Oh how I love this man of mine.

On Saturday, I told Charlie I was taking him to see BIG balloons. He said, "Oh Nana Linda, no thank you." 

I assured him they would not pop and explained they were giant, hot air balloons. I drove to Forest Park, found a parking place right at the curb, and laid Charlie on a beach towel and told him to look up.

When the hot air balloons rose above the tree line, he was so excited, and started yapping, describing each. 

"See that one Nana Linda? It's Mine Craft for Liam and that one is yellow and orange. And look at that one, it's Mario, and ...

It was such a hot day. We watched about two dozen balloons glide above us, and then I packed up my little babbler and we sat in the air conditioned car where he continued to tell me all about each one. 

When he woke up Sunday morning, Papa gave him a dollar bill. We walked to the corner store, where he selected a big pink frosted donut. He put it in a clear bag, and set it and his dollar on the counter. He clutched his donut and asked, "Where's my dollar?"

First lesson in economics. LOL

All in all a very good weekend with a sweet little talker, who developed seasonal allergies and began coughing and sneezing. Do you think he stopped yacking?

NOPE. I took him to the playground. I passed gas. He turned around and said loudly, "Did you faht?"

I said, "I think it was a frog talking."

He said, "I think it was you butt talking."

I couldn't be upset. He was just making an observation. 

We are truly blessed to have had these experiences with this little, wise, cutie pie.