Interview with Nate--7 years old

Every year I like to interview the kids around their birthdays and compare from year to year. I'm a little late. Nate turned 7 on June 25. I cannot wrap my brain around him being this old. In my head he's still 5. I think the weirdest thing is that I can vividly remember being 7. It's so crazy, and a little intimidating, that he is going to remember so much of what's going on now. Like I could mess up a little before and he was too little for it to have any lasting damage, but not so now. :) It's kind of like a grace period to get your parenting stuff together ... and now it's over.

Anyway, I love talking with Nate cause he's so honest and thoughtful and funny. Here was our conversation tonight.

What is the coolest thing about being 7?
Nate: Getting new toys and stuff for my early birthday weekend.
Like what?
Nate: Boy stuff.

What do you think 2nd grade will be like?
Nate: I don't know. I never saw it yet. Wait, mama, I want you to change what I said, Ok? I think we'll have sleep time there, and I really think we're going to have to read the newspaper.

What will you do that's different than 1st grade?
Nate: We'll have to write more, and we'll have to write on harder paper than first graders' paper. Paper gets harder and harder until you're a grown up and it won't have to be school paper anymore. But it will just get a teeny bit harder every year.

What has been your best age so far?
Nate: Um, it's been 6, but now I love every age that I get, and I'm probably going to get used to being 7.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Nate: A train engineer. I might have to be a train engineer and a singer! I want to be a singer and a train engineer, will that be okay? I really want to be both.

Are you going to be married?
Nate: Yeah.
Who you going to marry?
Nate: I don't know yet.
What kind of girl do you think you like?
Nate: I don't know I just have to get a little bit older to see.

Georgia: I want to marry you!
Nate: You got to marry someone you don't know.

Where will you live?
Nate: I'll see when I'm a grown up.
But if you could live anywhere?
Nate: I don't know yet. I'll just have to buy a new car and stuff. I don't know how I'll get stuff yet.

What will be great about being a grown up?
Nate: I get to have kids! And I'll have a better house than this one.
Georgia: But Nate's kids might be wild! They might be mean to each other cause kids are mean sometimes.
Nate: I'll control them. I'm so excited cause when I'm a grown up I'll get to do whatever I want, like put them in timeout.
Anything else?
Nate: I can't wait to buy new vehicles. And the mom that I choose can pick out a car that's girlish, and I get to pick one that's boyish.

What do you like about being a kid?
Nate: I get to play with my sister.
Georgia: That's cool.
Nate: I get to snuggle with daddy. Mama, I don't like it cause you don't let us sleep in your bed, but  daddy does. So, Mama, I think you should start doing that cause your covers are so soft it makes us want to stay in there. Mama, why don't you do that? Mama, why don't you do that? Mama, why don't you do that?

Nate, age 7