Just Gotta Dance...

My third-born is just goofy, crazy, silly, weird, and SO fun.

It's really true that you love all of your children equally but differently. My heart completely just bursts with so much love for this little boy who just goes through life at top speed all the time and with total, unbridled joy and exuberance in everything he does.  I love his energy and his enthusiasm. I love when he says "Mommy, I'm going to HUG you!" and runs at me as fast as he can, throws his arms around me and squeezes his arms as tightly around my neck as he can.

That act right there? That's Jonathan in a nutshell.  I really just enjoy him so much lately I can hardly stand to put him to bed at night because I miss him! (someone remind me of this post when he hits that evil stage they all hit at age three and I want to sell him on Ebay)

I think, somewhere in the back of my mind, it is slowly becoming very, very real to me I will never walk this way again and I'm even enjoying the things about him that should probably get on my nerves. LOL. It also helps that he is going through an incredibly easy, pleasant and fun phase right now.

Part of this fun phase is that he is completely and TOTALLY head over heels obsessed with Just Dance for the Wii. It's ALL he wants to do and absolutely nothing makes him happier than dancing.

It's right up there with any of Ben's obsessions (which also have their own blog label because they have been interesting over the years, to say the least...) This particular one is just a whole lot cuter and more publicly acceptable than some of Ben's have been.  (heat pumps,  for example...oy... that was a fun one)

So the little one, he dances. He dances ALL day. He dances every day. He dances everywhere. He dances when there is music and when there isn't. He sometimes dances to music that is clearly only playing in his head.  In a box. With a fox. In a house. With a mouse. You get the idea.

Any chance he gets he escapes to the basement playroom to play Just Dance.  (this is really what should get on my nerves, but it doesn't because it's adorable and I know, probably fleeting...)  I have had to sometimes lock the door to the where the Wii is so I can keep it under control.  But I know  if I leave it open and let him go, I can sneak down and watch him talk to himself and work on his dance moves. I spend way too much time just standing in the doorway giggling to myself.

He also will steal any internet-enabled device he finds so he can pull up Just Dance videos on YouTube. If you're with Jonathan and you don't have an unlimited data plan. Hide. Your. Phone.

He shops for new Just Dance installments on Amazon. "Can we buy Just Dance FOUR? Pwease pwease pwease?"

He will dance for an audience, but only in that, if you turn on one of his songs and there happen to be people in the room, he won't NOT dance. But he really doesn't give two figs if anyone is watching or not.  He just wants to dance for himself. He never even notices he has an audience. I wish I had just a little of this. He makes people laugh and smile wherever we go.

He memorizes the choreography exactly. Not even kidding. If you watch the screen, he's doing his two-year-old version of whatever the figures on the screen are doing. After a few tries of a song, he doesn't even need the screen.

He can also read the song titles. (among many other things) We discovered this recently and it's another post entirely.

Anyway, it's his top obsession at the moment, so the old one is fading and there is wayyyy less opening and closing of the DVD player lately, which is good for both the DVD player and my sanity.

The new obsession is also kind of fun at parties and school fairs when he busts a move to whatever song is playing.  Looking forward to my brother's upcoming wedding reception! ;)

I wish there were a preschool dance class for boys. I would sign him up in a heartbeat, though it probably would blow up in my face because he generally likes his dancing (as with everything else) on his own terms. But it might be fun for awhile.... "for awhile" being the key words... because I've learned my lesson. I used to think with Ben that these obsessions would lead to bigger things....that he'd stick with them. I know now though that I should just enjoy  them while they last because eventually they will give way to something else once he's learned everything he wants to learn about whatever subject he is fixated on.

So we'll enjoy the dancing while it lasts and I'll be over here hoping the next obsession isn't Star Wars because goodness knows we have enough of that going on over here already and 23 light sabers is really enough for any one family, even one with three boys! Besides, that's Ben's current passion (fifth or so round of it... sigh...) and I don't think I can take any more Star Wars talk from sun-up until sun-down.  One of HIS current favorite things is to watch videos of himself at slightly older than Jonathan's age talking about Star Wars and make fun of all the things he had wrong.  LOL!

I wish I could get them both obsessed with Just Dance at the same time. Maybe we could go on Ellen? I hear she really likes quirky kids... like the four-year-old who used to bite animal crackers into the shape of states.

Oh wait... no... what wasn't on Ellen. That was in the backseat of my car sometime in 2008. I have the weirdest kids EVER... and I wouldn't change them for the world. ;)