Little Conversations

I have been so tickled lately by some of the conversations we've shared with the boys.  We're getting glimpses into their little hearts and minds as they learn to express themselves more and more clearly, and sometimes have to smile when their words aren't exactly the ones they're looking for but we know what they mean.

As the weather gets cooler I've been pulling out the boxes of winter clothes and have asked the boys to try on last year's pants and shirts to see what will still fit.  I asked Isaac what sort of pants he liked to wear and he lost no time in selecting "jeams!"  He has called them that ever since.  And, he sometimes goes the extra mile in making his verbs past tense....not only has he won races against me, but he "beated!" me!  Or if we had a brisk pace in an evening stroll, he might have "runned-ed."

Caedmon is always excited to tell me about the things he's doing in school, often pulling everything out of his backpack to show me as soon as he gets in the car.  One afternoon last week he was telling me about something in his "wiggly reader," and it took me a few minutes to figure out that he was referring to the "Weekly Reader" that the kiddos work on together.  My thought was that in a pre-k classroom, they might be more accurately referred to as "wiggly" readers!

Both boys bless my heart with their sweet words, but Isaac in particular has been showing a new depth that is so touching to this mama. When I picked the boys up from school last week I asked them both about their morning, and what they had done.  Isaac said, "No, Mom, what did YOU do this morning?" I described the errands that I had run, and he asked, "But didn't you have lunch?"  I told him that yes, I did, and then he wanted to know what I had.  Only after I had given him all the details, mundane as they were, was he was content to tell me about his morning.  And then the next time I dropped him off and gave him a big hug, he looked in my eyes and told me, "When you pick me up today I want you to tell me about all the things you do this morning!"

We have also been sharing a Bible verse together before meals, talking about what it means and how to apply it to our lives, and trying to memorize one verse per week.  Caedmon is quick to commit them to memory and be able to recite both the current and previous weeks' verses.  Isaac is usually very quiet while we talk, not wanting to practice saying the words out loud.  A recent verse was from 1 Thessalonians 5:11 - "Be kind to one another and build each other up."  Hold that thought.

This afternoon the boys got to leave to spend a few days with Grammy and Papa.  They have been so excited to go and Isaac told me as they were about to drive away that he would see me in "100 days."  I told him that they would need to come back sooner than that but that we could check back in after a couple of days and see how they're feeling.  He said, "Oh, it's okay, Mama, Grammy has a washing machine."  Obviously we hadn't packed enough sets of clothes for 100 days!  I reminded him that they would need to get along and be kind to each other if he wanted to have an extended stay.  His reply was, "Oh, yes, Mama.  We will build each other up!"  Oh my - he was listening.  My heart is full.