do you know what?

Overheard a funny conversation between Jaevin and his friends, Dakota and Marcus, this morning as they were getting ready for the bus.
"Do you know what?"
This is Jaevin's intro to any topic that interests him and he finds extremely exciting. Which means he says it a lot. He doesn't wait for the other person to actually answer him, but he says it quickly and then goes into his profound thought.
"Do you know what? I saw the old Toronto Maple Leafs play hockey, and guess what? They were still alive!" Jaevin said.
He went to see an Old Timer hockey game with his dad last weekend. He was a bit disappointed that he wasn't going to see Mats Sundin, but he still had a lot of fun.
"Well, my mom was alive in 1991!" Dakota said to impressed oooohhhhs and aaaahhhhs from Jaevin and Marcus. "She was born in 1980 and I was born in 2000."
"I was born in 2000 too" Jaevin said importantly.
"You were born in 2002?" Marcus said incredulously.
"No, I said I was born in 2000.....t00"Jaevin explained.

There are so many moments like this when you have children- I wish I could remember it all or had enough time to write it all down.

It was another peaceful moment as I watched them go down to the bus stop this morning. Not as profound as yesterday, but still nice.

It was snowing, but it was not soft and clumpy again. It sounded like rain drops falling on my coat. The packing snow has now all hardened into crunchy snow. I wish I had made a snowman with Jaevin yesterday. The weather was perfect- there are only certain times that the weather is perfect for snowman making. He wanted to go tobogganing with Darren instead. It would have been nice to wake up to a snow friend this morning.

Maybe I should have made my own snow buddy?

I was a bit sad as the bus passed me. I was thinking about how Summer will never ride on a bus because the school board is taken all the routes away. I wondered if a school bus would feel like an extinct animal to her- something she never knew. I won't have her "first day of school" picture at the bus stop or have her look out the window and wave to me or have her run off the bus after school shouting, "MOMMY!"

She is so excited when I say, "It's time to go to the bus stop!" She grabs her boots and points to them, "guhhh...." translation: put these on Mommy. She gets a big smile on her face as we go out the door. She associates bus time with her big brother and Daddy coming home. Summer loves them so much.

Witnessing the complete devotion that her and Jaevin have for one another is one of the truly remarkable experiences I have had as a parent.

It is me, Mommy!

Jaevin, my six-year-old, usually crawls into bed with Darren and I sometime during the night. He snuggles his way into the middle.

I love waking up before him in the morning and watching him before he wakes up because he looks so perfect and content.

I noticed that he is starting to get a few faint brown freckles across the bridge of his nose. His eye lashes are long and he looks like an angel while sleeping.

Sometimes I don't want to wake him up in the morning for school. I want to be selfish and keep him home all day. To have a "mommy and me" day.

He started grade one this year, and after his first week it was like he was a new person. He has picked up a new language (some of it is not very nice; but mostly it's phrases like "that's sweet" or "you gotta be kidding me").

He also has this bashfulness now. He doesn't want to be embarrassed in front of his peers.

Jaevin has inherited a double crown in his hair from his father, so no matter what we do, his hair sticks up in the middle. He used to go off to school and not care about it at all. But now, sometimes he goes into the bathroom and puts water on his hair, in an effort to tame the natural spike.

He'll come out with a little "aren't I handsome" expression on his face. So, of course, I say, "You look very handsome today, Jaevin."

"I know," he says with sincerity. He knows he is the most handsome boy in his class; actually his whole school, he tells me with a shrug.

Although I am noticing his new self-awareness, there are still some pure innocent moments that I treasure.

We play this game where I say "I love a little boy in this world- do you know who it is?"

Jaevin giggles and says, "It's me, Momma!"

I look very seriously at him and say, "I don't know....maybe it is you. The little boy I love has blue eyes."

He smiles and yells, "I have blue eyes!" and points to his eyes.

Then I will say something like, "I don't know....it could be you...The little boy I love has a name that starts with a "J""

In between each clue he will look so happy, but nervous, that the next clue might not be about him.

After about five clues I will look at him, and exclaim, "It is YOU! You are the boy I love the best in this world."

He loves it!

Lately though, when I start it , he will say "Mommy, you always do this to me, and it's always me!" But he still wants me to do it- and he also wants to include Summer in on it. He says, "Do you love any little girls Mommy?"

"Of course I do!" I reply.

"Is it Summer, Mommy?"

"Well, I don't know.....the little girl I love has blue eyes."

And on we go again.

I remember when he was about two years old I would say, "You're my best friend......"and he would say, "in the WHOLE world" in his soft little voice.

I love those moments.

Originally posted February 19,2007