We Missed You, Dad

Jim left for a business trip for the entire work week and we missed him a lot. James looked forward to the nightly phone call and made this Lego masterpiece to show his Dad.

It's Harry Potter's castle! The little colored Legos are crystals and potions!

So cool! We used our iPads to have "Facetime" chats. Here is James showing his Dad a Lego minifig.

 

Brushing teeth, so he could tell Dad that he was a good boy each night. (And he truly was!)

 

And our Surprise sign for Dad. We hung the sign in the doorway. We heard the garage door opening at bedtime, but we rushed downstairs to be at the door to yell "Surprise!" and Welcome Home :)

The next morning, James shows off the new Lego set from Dad's trip.

 

WJDN?

Playing with Legos, what else??

 

Love

"Mom, I'm gay."

Uh what?!

But I'm a pro and this is how it went down...

The scene: Bedtime. Brushing teeth.

James, do you know what that word means?

No.

You shouldn't use any word that you don't know what it means.

Oh, okay. (back to teeth brushing)

Moments later...

"Mom, what does that word mean?"

I said, "Gay is when boys love boys, and girls love girls, kind of like how Mom and Dad love each other."

"Ohhhhh!" (more teeth brushing)

"Mom, I'm gay with Grandma Rose...cuz I love her."

I guess I didn't explain it as well as I thought! I left it alone mostly but I did tell him that there are other kinds of love and we love our family, our friends, and all people in different ways.

He's only five so I don't overwhelm him with details. Kind of like when he asked me how babies are made. Just enough info to answer the first questions, but expecting to expand on it when he can handle it. (I should blog about that one too!). I did want to be careful and not call "Gay" a bad word. I was more concerned that he wasn't using the word correctly and then where did he hear it used? Jim thinks I probably have said it around James when I've described things at work. I think I always use "GLBT" to describe gay, lesbian issues though. Maybe but I'm thinking he picked up the word somewhere else.

Is it silly that I was secretly excited that we started this conversation so young?? I've always thought I'd be prepared if James told us he was gay but I imagined a ten year old or something (yes, it happens earlier than you think, especially if there are open, supportive parents like I plan us to be!)

Anyway, I'll always be glad to answer my son's questions.

I spoke with James' teacher too, more to tell her the funny little story, but also to tell her that James has a new word. This was also significant because she is gay. She was very quick to tell me that it isn't something they discuss in school, the general topic and also her personal life, but I was just as quick to reassure her that that wasn't a concern at all! No worries from me. She did laugh with me over this story and tell me she'd let me know if anything else comes up.

Oh but there's more!

The initial conversation with James was on Monday. Today he told me, "I'm gay with Sid. I love him." Sid is a boy at school. I reminded him about the different kinds of love and what he's telling me is that he loves Sid like a friend and not like he wants to hug and kiss him.

James gave me a WTF look and told me, "Mom, there is NO kissing at school."

DUH.

I know James loves me too. He gave me a fistful of "flowers" today (:

Swimmer

Have I mentioned that James says he's going to be a swimmer when he's grown up? Like, that's what he wants to be in college (:

 

Practicing skills-

 

And then the evaluation! I was told that James can register for Middle 1, so shipping a few levels in the Little section. I think this has more to do with his age than his skills.

 

 

A Day in the Life

We have a busy little boy!

He has a green thumb... His pumpkin seeds are sprouting!

He checks the mail. Still no Lego catalog!

He's a model! This is his Earth hat.

 

The Boy Wizard

We've been reading Harry Potter at bedtime. It's amazing that James is really listening to it. I guess it helps that he has seen most or bits of the movies.

Harry Potter makes us happy!

Easter 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SpongeBob Superheroes Legos

James was very proud to use his own money to buy a Lego set today. Tia ChaCha and Uncle Rich gave him a $10 Target card (among other things) for Easter. Here is his review of his latest set.

 

When Mom's away...

The boys play!

 

 

Gamer

 

 

You Got Mail

Every day James wants to check the mail. He asks for permission to run across the street, by himself, to check the mailbox. I watch him from the driveway as he looks both ways (actually a few times) and then runs across! He can barely reach the mailbox though.

He's always on the lookout for Lego catalogs and packages! And today there was one from Tia Kiki!

Thank you Kiki!

Helper

James is a good helper at the store, but he comes with a price. Chocolate milk.

 

Jetpack

I finally was able to see James swim with his jetpack. Fun stuff!

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHOA

One beautiful day we decided to ride the bike down the sidewalk. James wanted to keep going. We set a goal of riding to the playground.

The playground is in sight! We made it! I was so proud of him. I did have to help him up the hills and up the curbs, but he did it!

 

I really like this picture, not just because my hair is newly pretty but because James has a huge booger hanging out of his nose!

 

And this look is funny!

 

We made the bike ride home too! He was pretty exhausted but we were proud that we did it :)

Child Labor

James works very hard. He gets in these funny moods where he'll tell us that he needs to "work" today. He will then focus very intently on his Lego play. On this day he rediscovered his Lego sticker books and set to work to match them up with the story pages. He tackled each kind of Lego (Ninjas, SW, Power Miners, Harry Potter, etc.) and completed each page with satisfaction. It was quite the sight to see.

 

 

I bought him another sticker book for Easter but he has shown no interest in completing another one. I hope when I bring it out this summer it will be exciting once again.