Together......

I heard you whispering to each other....I couldn't hear what you were saying.  I heard the laughter, the giggles, the excitement.  I stood in the doorway to see.....

...the two of you, side by side, looking at your blog.   I had left if open and you were looking at it. 

Together.

xo

You love.............

                                                       ....playing!

                                                 ......being silly!

                                                       ....Mario!

                                                  ....creating things!

Pieces.....

JT, there are certainly a lot of things I love about you.  I think of them as pieces of you. There are so many of them, and all of them make up the unique person of ...YOU!

One of those pieces is your playfulness.   Now I know...you are FIVE!   You are supposed to be like that.  But honestly, I think that even when you are 25, 45, 65 or even 105.....you will still have very important piece of playfullness in you.  

You make a game out of everything.  And yes, sometimes it gets you in trouble.  BUT.........there is also something amazing in that as well.   Today....you raced against the waves coming close to you on the shore.   You would run forward and quickly back, just in time to keep your shoes and feet dry! 

Then...you looked for seashells.   While you ended up with a few that you took home that were intact and one piece, it was the ones that were cracked and beat up you were most interested in.   You wanted to bring them home. You started trying to put some of them together to make them whole again!   Then  I  to convince you that the other shells were enough and to leave the cracked pieces behind.
   
 In the end, we did in fact leave  the cracked shell pieces behind.   You brought the three you got that were all intact.   They will sit in your room.   However,  I am almost certain that the next time we head down to Sarasota and spend some time at the little beachy area we did today....those pieces, or pieces very much like them, will find there way to your hands, and into your thoughts of yours.   And I promise next time....to let those pieces come home too!  For I know tonight as I sit here and write this to you, even those pieces are important.  For if I didn't have every single piece of you that makes you whole, I would certainly know it and miss it!

Priceless..............

Ahhhh.....just found these!!!  JT where did the time go.....you were just ONE in these pictures!!!!!!

A boy and his dog...........

Two nights ago, you were in the family room, playing with Brandi.  Rachel and I were working on homework in the den.  You had already done your homework.   You decided to take the opportunity to write about dogs!  You love your dog!  And here is what you came up with when you proudly came in to show your sister and I!

You forgot those capital letters at the front of your sentences....something you never do....but as you excitedly read this to me, I know why.  Your little brain moves fast!  And I do believe you were writing just as fast as you could to keep up with it!  So you told us:

Dogs sit different ways.  Dogs listen.  Dogs like people petting them. Dogs lay down.
Dogs get excited.(I liked your first attempt at that word....icsided) Dogs put their ears up.  

You drew a picture of Brandi so "we would always have it".   And then at the bottom you put the "example" (as your teacher apparently calls it).....That 's what dogs do!


I asked you if you had been given that example before in school, to which you told me "No, I just love Brandi and wanted to write what she likes to do!"

You do so love Brandi.   And guess what JT, she LOVES you SO much!

I am amazed by you JT...........

Joshua....the other night, the pictures above would have looked SO different if I had the insight to grab a camera to forever preserve our evening of homework!   Oh what a night!   You had an assignment, similiar to the one above to complete.  Write a short paragraph and answer some questions.   That night, it was not so much a specific story like the one above about your favorite stuffed animal, but to write something using your word wall words of the week.   But that was not the normal night around here.   Usually,  it is like these pictures! You love school.   It is that simple.    I am amazed how everyday, I see such the look of excitement in your eyes.   You are the perfect example of what I remember dreaming how my future students would be when I was going to college to be a teacher.  I dreamed of a class full of little boys and girls who would have that look in their eyes of anticipation, eagerness and willingness to learn.  As you do.    You amazed me starting last year in PreK....I would ask you how your day was...and you told me ALL about it.   The whole morning.  All that you did...and even what all the other kids did (or what they did NOT do! ) Yes, out of the mouth of a four year old.   You may not have been happy when I left you each morning those first couple of months, but you were when I picked you up. That is what got ME through, knowing you were in fact having fun.. Soon though, you happily left me each morning. This year....KINDERGARTEN!!!  Yikes! I did not know what your reaction would be.   I was nervous JT.  Really nervous.  But you, as you always do, amazed me.  There were no tears this year.   There was no complaining about not wanting to go to school, you went and from day one you have loved it.   I love hearing about your friends you  play with....especially Eash, Colton...your very best buddies in class.  Your face lights up with excitement when you tell me about what the three of you did during the day.  I love how when you are doing your homework, and your are thinking of how to spell a word, you realize it is a word wall word and you  tell me "that is easy" as you jot down all the letters to it. Even the crazy ones that cannot be sounded out.  It is as if as long as you have seen it once, you have a picture of it in your head.   I love how you proudly get in the van on Fridays and tell me how again your have passed your next SMAD level test.  And... you are reading...so much, I am amazed at how fast you are progressing.   But it is not those  things that amaze me the most.     It is how you have that look of anticipation, that look of the fact you are all ready to learn something new; all the time!  That look of... what can I do today that is new from yesterday.   That amazes me JT.  You amaze me!!!   You love school... and I LOVE YOU!  xo

Intensity......

It is that look.   Eyes focussed.  Tongue sticking out ever slow slightly.    Concentration in full force. There is the look of  focus on your little face that I could kiss all day long, if only you would just let me!!!    I watch this in you all day long.  You work so hard, I can practically  hear you  thinking.   It does not matter what task is before you.     It doesn't matter what it is...it gets done!  And along the way intensity exudes from you.  But that afterall is you JT.  You are intense.  Sometimes I call it dramatic, but I am pretty sure it is all from the same place...  You are one of a kind JT.   I know this first hand.   Just looking at these pictures, reminds me of  just that.  Some were taken just this week.   Some taken some time ago.   However they all have one thing in common......you and who you are.   

  Then there are the times that your little will and independence come crashing through and you do only what JT wants.  It can also be called another word, stubborn!   Yes, stubborn....it looks like this sometimes:  yelling, running and sliding across the floor  or just flat out refusal to do what you are supposed to.  It is those moments that I question things....especially if I am the ONLY mom that has this kind of..well...intensity.

 I am learning  a  bit of how to handle these times better!   However, I don't think I will ever be fully trained on that.  But, I do stop myself now and remind myself.....this intensity works both ways.   Then I clearly see the  huge positive.

 I think of you  in the future:  college, your job, a husband and father one day......with your committment and intensity to get done with whatever is before you... you will without a doubt be a huge success!   And then this calms my nerves.  This shows me that in the end, all will be just as it should be.   Really no different than right now, as things from one end of the spectrum all the way to the other...are just as they should be.

 You keep going every second of every minute of every hour of every day!   Until finally, you fall into your bed and your pillow.  It is then, only then, that I see you totally calm, in every way.    Our boy, who has worked so hard that day, is now ready to refuel for the next day.   Once those eyes pop open the next morning.....it starts all over again.   And I look forward to it each day.  Just as I look forward to every ounce of joy you keep filling up in  my heart without fail, each and every single day. 

2010 photo memories....