winkgirl4's Diaryland Diary

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Talking to Justin

There are times when I really just want to ring my seven-year-old son�s neck. I can tell him repeatedly to do something and he will just sit there like he�s not sure what action would set him motion. I have to shake him from his journeys into La-La-Land more times than I care to admit and getting him to focus on a task is like pulling teeth.

But, then there are the times when he just amazes me. Times when he makes me smile. Times when he makes me wonder if I�m talking to a seven-year-old or an adult. Yes, sure, I�m a proud mother but at the same time, I�m in awe of this thing which is my child.

We�ll be driving in the car and my seven-year-old will say, �I�m thinking of a word that has a consonant, vowel, consonant, silent �e� pattern. What word am I thinking about? Instead of looking at him with the shock that every ounce of me wants to express, I just play along:

�Consonant, vowel, consonant, silent �e�? Uhm, let me see� �Take�?�

�No. But you got two of the letters right.�

�Time?�

�No. One more try. You still only have two letters right.�

See, I figured, of course I was getting the silent �e� right- that was a gimme. Both times I got two letters right so I figured I was getting the �t� correct, also, so I tried, �Tile.�

�No. You still only got two letters right. The word was �kite�,� he said. I began thinking which words I had guessed and before I could argue with the �You got two letters right� statement, he chimed in, �You got the �k� and �e� right in the first one and the �t� and �e� in the other two.�

Again, I find myself wanting to express how impressed I am but I don�t. I just keep playing. That�s how we work.

This morning, on our way to school, he asked me, �How many armies are going to fight against this town when war starts and would we fight against the people or just the president?�

After I explained, �Well, it�s actually against a country called Iraq and we aren�t sure how many different countries are going to fight against them,� We talked about the UN and what it�s purpose is and how it�s different members think we should confront Saddam Hussien. We talked about weapons and what makes a weapon good and bad. We talked about what makes a weapon a weapon in the first place. We talked about whether he thought a weapon was still a weapon if they had all the parts to make it but it wasn�t put together yet. As he opened the door to get out of the car he said, �Can we talk about this again when I get out of school?� And in my very calm voice I said, "Of course we can."

Is it wrong of me to look so forward to such conversations with my seven-year-old?

6:04 p.m. - 2003-02-28

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