confused?

My poor six-year-old is so confused. He ran outside today, rifle slung over shoulder, running pants and sweatshirt. Then promptly turned around and hightailed it back inside for a coat. 

It's cold out there!

I'm not complaining, mind you. I appreciate the mild winter. But poor guy doesn't realize its actually winter out there, and winter is cold.

(PS, the rifle wasn't real)

my six-year-old's artistic interpretation of the battle of thermopylea

I love finding the little drawings and writings of the kids when i'm cleaning!

This is one Charlie drew of the 300 Spartans in the battle of Thermopylae. Complete with shield and arrows in mid-flight. The large dark mass on the right is the huge Persian army.

Notice he drew verbs, not nouns. Something is happening in the picture. He loves it when i say, "Look at what you drew.... what is happening in your picture?" And then comes a long description! The girls almost always draw nouns and they look at me with blank looks when I ask the same question and I get the answer, "its a cat."

belated birthday

He's six and he's amazing. He says he can't turn seven without knowing how to read, he wants to know if his daddy will still be a police office when he is a firefighter, he is a wiz at math facts, he prays that God will save him and his sisters so that they can be baptized, he can't wait to study astronomy with his dad this year, and he likes to practice his "baseball slides" whenever we visit a park with a diamond.

Boys are Different, Part 12

Strap 5-year-old boy in front seat of minivan. Turn off the radio. Say nothing. Wait.

In between Wal-Mart and home I had an exchange like never before. He speaks in conjunctions, pronouns and sound effects. I respond with finely-tuned repertoire of head nods, raised eyebrows, and shocked expressions. Twenty small words spoken; so much said.

In Which Charlie Declares Us Farmers to Anyone Who Will Listen: An Apology

According to Charles we are "farmers."

Let me apologize now to all of the actual farmers out there that work for a life time perfecting the art of farming and take incredible risks to supply us with meat and produce that we can purchase and consume at our whim!

But what's a boy to do? He won't really remember living in the suburbs. I can't determine that he even remembers the old house. He's surrounded with tractors, animals, dirt, and fields everywhere he turns. So I can see where the confusion is. But he also thinks his name should be something more heroic like "Aragorn" or "Darth Vader" or something. (As if I'd name him after Darth Vader!) Oh, to be a boy and the whole world seems so big.

In Which Charlie Assumes the Mannerisms of a World War I Flying Ace

We love the air force museum in Dayton and try to visit during our Christmas break. This year Charlie found this the cockpit of old fighter planes fascinating! It was a fairly slow day so the kids got to spend quite a bit of time in these planes, pressing all the buttons and shooting down "bad guys." It's hard to get decent pictures at the museum, but I did get some video of Charlie and his sound effects. Only a boy can make those sounds!

Four Years Old!

Who wouldn't want a little riot gear for their birthday?

Happy Birthday, Charlie.

Boys are Different, Part Eleven

My baby is 4 today.

Yesterday the girls let Charlie have a turn with the karaoke machine. Now image, the machine is on echo and he takes his moment in the spotlight to say something meaningful that will change the world. He chooses carefully and announces with impressive authority:

You are banished from the
Kingdom of Rohan.

Yes, baby, I still love you even though you're different. In fact, that's why I love you. Happy Birthday.

Boys are Different, Part Ten

Breakfast for Charlie is served with a tall stack of horses and dinosaurs and a heaping side dish of war.

Boys are Different, Part Nine

Charlie is always testing the limits of everything. How high is too high? How far is too far? How loud is too loud? How much TP is too much?

Six roles is too much, Charlie.

At least it's not in the toilet--this time--so he's learning.

Boys are Different, Part Eight

Two boys together intensifies the differences between the sexes, so much more than just one boy alone.

Boys are Different, Part Seven

Yesterday I was told two very insightful things by my children.

First Maya told me that I am a "special" queen because 1) I do all the work, 2) I do not have a queenly chair, and 3) I do not have maids. Such a girly observation from my girly girl that really believes that she is a princess and I am a queen.

Then this from Charlie on the other end of the gross out spectrum: For some odd reason he coughed and vomited a little while I was putting him in bed. It was clear fluid, he's not sick. But he had some on his hands and a little on his feet. Did I warn you this was going to be gross? So I tell him to stand right there, don't move and I'll get a towel and be right back. Sure enough when I get back he's standing frozen and stuck in the exact same spot as when I left. I quietly begin to clean him up and he tells me, "Mom. If you throw up and then taste it you'll throw up again. So don't try that. OK?" I shake my head. Its all I can do.

True enough, son. True enough.

Boys are Different, Part Six

In all my short life I have never seen a child receive such joy from pestering his sisters; physically, mentally or otherwise.

Aunt M, maybe you know of what I speak. He is his father's son!

Boys are Different, Part Five

The enemy is everywhere: lurking behind dark bushes, or disguised as a mild-mannered librarian, or lying dormant in the seemingly unassuming carrot stick on the lunch plate. Beware.

Boys are Different, Part Four

My boy has a continual drive to test the reach of his physical ability. Getting hurt does not represent a limit to that ability, only a cause for recurrent testing. For if one changes the smallest variable in the testing parameters one will get varying outcomes that may or may not include injury. Injury is not a natural consequence that will inhibit dangerous behavior, it is something to be endured and pushed beyond to find the absolute extremity of one's physical, psychological, and emotional boundaries. And it's important to find these boundaries so that they can be stretched and tested even more. Each test holds the promise of something as of yet unaccomplished; formerly unobtainable by any other boy across all time and space.

Boys are Different, Part Three

Rope.

Need I say more?

Boys are Different, Part Two

With Charlie, no matter what he's doing, it's all about getting the bad guys. We could be doing something as innocuous as folding laundry and he's got a sword or a rifle made out of tinker toys in the belt loop of his pants which he yields like an angry warrior. And if those weapons aren't available, he'll make do with his Spidey web. Go web, go. I only wish I could see what he sees when he's fighting those bad guys. It must be an unbelievable battle of epic proportions!

Boys are Different, Part One

Everything my son does comes with an accompanying sound effect. For example, if you ask him to pass something at the table he makes it sound really fast.