My boy

Lest anyone think I am not crazy about this boy...I will write about him today.

He is so like Sweet Daddy. The other day he was opening and closing the hotel room door, over and over.... Here's a sampling of my pet peeves:  1.windshield wipers set on an inappropriately fast setting (aaaaack!) and 2. unnecessary noise.

So, I snapped..."What are you doing? Come in here and stop messing with the door!"

Sweet Daddy needed no explanation from his son. He looked at me and gently explained that Bug was just trying to figure out how the latch and lock operate. Ohhhh...okay...in that context, I'm all for it. We'll add slamming doors to our homeschooling portfolio and claim credit for it. Unnecessary becomes a little more necessary.

Very inquisitive...and a perfectionist...has us both tearing our hairs out about handwriting time. His standards are so high...don't know where he got that...neither one of us big people in his life expects perfection. I definitely lean to the get-r-done-good-enough school of thought. And his daddy, while detail-oriented to the extreme also settles for less than perfect in the practical.

I consider him an expert sound-effect maker...how do boys just know how to recreate gunfire, robot sounds, and explosions with vocal chords and lips...astonishing. And an expert storyteller...he can narrate a movie scene, fairytale, video game battle, or real life event...with excrutiating detail. And run-on sentences...whoa....

He's becoming a fantastic swimmer...we're working on strokes these days, but he is definitely a swimmer at this point....pretty much just fine in the water. (Update: just got back from the hotel pool, and uhhh, I may have spoken too soon...he could be a swimmer if he was interested...but today, he was not) And a reader...I've always thought if my kids learn to 1. love Christ, 2. read, 3. swim, and 4. read music, they'll be in pretty good shape for life. So, we're getting there and soon my job will be done...right

He's cautious like me. When approaching a new experience, he wants to know what to expect, and unlike me as a child, is fairly adaptable socially. He likes one of us with him to see a new environment ie:Sunday School class, but quickly feels confident enough to stay independently without a look back in our direction. But I do adore the way he plays in a crowd and emerges looking for me...just to make eye contact before going back to play.

(Digression: That is the best feeling...I get it with his dad, too, when we've been separated in a crowd and we find each other eyes. Like at an airport, a party...or Sam's Club on a Saturday before Christmas. Always thrills my soul. cue swelling violin music)

Bug is so lovey...sneeking into bed in the wee hours and attaching himself to one of us big people. Today during couch time, we were reading and I could not turn the page or lift my coffee mug because he was right up against me. I moved down...once, twice...even taking pillows of the couch so that I could get into the corner...I finally had to ask for some space...I know I won't always have to ask...he'll just drift farther away.

I can't resist this boy. I touch his hair, I smooch his cheek, I squeeze his buns...maybe I should stop doing that....

More and more, I am realizing that God gave me the perfect children for me...and the perfect siblings for each other. I am a proud momma and gladly fade into the background behind these mostly-charming-and-oozing-with-fun-and-promise babes. I continue to try to be thankful for the challenges they bring...in the ways we are different or the same...He uses them to sand off my edges...that's what that irritation is about, right?