Three Going on 17

Catching Loumy putting on his special little "Tom's Natural Deodorant" this morning made me feel like laughing and crying at the same time. As you can see, I dashed for my camera and caught him finishing up (it helped that this is his first time putting it on himself and he spent a good 30 seconds on each pit).

Doesn't it seem that if you have to stand up on a footstool in the bathroom to see in the mirror that you shouldn't have to be putting on deodorant? Especially if you are 3?

A few months ago I noticed a smell akin to one of Chancho's shirts that he has worked out in and accidentally left in his gym bag for several weeks (not that he does that, but that's what I imagined the smell to be like). I sniffed around and, to my horror, discovered that it was coming from under Loumy's armpits. I thought it was a fluke and quickly gave him a bath. Thirty minutes later, I could smell him again. I put some of Chancho's deodorant on him, which he thought was awesome. Over the next couple of months the smell would come and go from him. I talked to my brother (our pediatrician) because I was worried this might be a sign of precocious puberty. He told me that the smell itself was nothing to worry about and told me what signs to keep an eye out for. I tried to ignore it, but I don't want my son to get a reputation as the "stinky kid". I also didn't want to be using adult strength deodorant on him so I finally bought him his own special stick.Loumy thinks its great but seeing him putting it on this morning, as I said, first made me laugh because I thought he looked so cute. But then I almost started to cry because I think he already has such a grown up look to his face and I felt like I was peering into the future to see my son as a teenager or a man getting ready to go out with his friends or on a date and it made me realize that this will actually be happening faster than I can begin to imagine right now. I had to go kiss him all over and then squash his head down playfully, as my father often does, and say, "don't grow up! stop getting so big!"