Really Cool Things About Being A Kid (That we forget once we grow up)

I'm at home with my sickly boy today. I gave him Tylenol a few minutes ago, and now he's quietly playing with action figures in the living room floor. I think he's having a growth spurt on top of being under the weather. Watching him play and thinking of how quickly he is growing, I can't help but feel a little tinge if regret for all the wonderful things about childhood I have forgotten since becoming an adult. Here are some of the coolest things about being a kid that most people completely forget once they're grown:

1. How it feels to grow taller. This has got to be one of the coolest experiences of childhood, but how many people really give it a second thought? Kids grow. It's what they do. But just think how awesome it would be to wake up at 30 with leg cramps and then realize two days later that all your pants are too short becauseu you grew 2 inches! I, personally would be thrilled! I wish I could remember how it felt to get taller and taller, but alas, the memory escapes me.
2. How to create alternate realities by using a different voice, changing your name, or shrinking yourself to the size of an action figure and getting lost in your own story line of super heroes vs. villains!
3. Fitting into really small spaces.
4. Eating whatever you want without worrying about high cholesterol, or.your figure.
5. Apparently, when you're 6, poop is hilarious. Not so much when you're a grown up.
6. It's okay to fall asleep anywhere at any time and no one thinks badly of you for it. In fact, everyone thinks its adorable.
7. Playing. I don't mean golf or video games. I mean running wildly, climbing with abandon, skipping joyfully and falling down often. I mean making up the game as you go, making friends everywhere you go just so you have someone to play with, being so tired you can't stand yourself and still wanting to PLAY!!!
8. Christmas morning.
9. Snuggling up on the couch with your mommy when you're sick.
10. Always having someone around who knows more about the world than you do--and being able to ask them questions about anything at any time.
11. Making up the words to songs when you don't know the real words and wouldn't understand what they meant, even if you did know them.
12. Recess! Ah, recess, that few minutes in the day when you let loose and PLAY! When you forget about math and reading and just BE a kid. The closest thing we get to recess as adults is the lunch break--where we work while we eat or talk about work while we eat.
13. Not knowing that "sh*t" is a bad word, and saying it to a stranger--then experiencing the thrill of having shocked a grown up you don't know and embarrassing your mom at the same time.
14. Being able to tell grown ups when their breath stinks, when they're too fat, or that they are very wrinkly, and having them not get angry at you for speaking the truth.
15. Cartoons! Mindless funniness, complete with mini explosions, gravity defying stunts, impossible plots by evil bunnies or ducks or chickens to take over the world! A sponge that talks and blows really cool bubbles, and who has campfires under water...who needs reality TV when you can watch Sponge Bob??