Okay, so I’ve got to tell you about that kid of mine. Joe (although still struggling with some attitude issues here and there) is so great! He’s growing up so fast and has been learning so many things here lately. For starters…

He can read!!! I’ve worked with him off and on for the past few months and he’s been coming along, but it’s just been here lately that I feel confident in saying it that plainly: HE CAN READ. And I owe all the thanks to Jim Davis and Bill Watterson. I’d been having Joe work through little beginner books and read them to me and he was starting to get the hang of it a little bit, but still really struggling. But then Joe discovered an old Calvin and Hobbs comic book of mine and several old Garfield books (the works of Watterson and Davis). He loves them. Spends hours poring over them and now is doing great with his reading! He enjoyed the pictures, but it just wasn’t good enough—he had to know what was being said. He’s come to me several times in the past few weeks, giggling, and saying “Hey, Mom, listen to this…” Then he’ll proceed to read to me whichever strip has caught him as funny. It’s great! Mr. Mardel got him his very own Bible this past week and Joe is sooooooo excited. He asked if he could help read during devotions the other day, so I looked up the chapter we were starting in and he read the first verse for us—almost without a hitch. I had to help him with “Philistines” and one other word, but otherwise he just spit everything out almost as quickly as his eyes hit the words. Wow!!! I’m so proud of him!!!

And then there’s his math. Math is Katie’s weak spot. She can read better than most 10 year olds probably (!) and is great with words and stories, but has a lot harder time with numbers. I quiz them a lot at lunch time, asking what 12 plus 5 equals and stuff like that. Joe almost always beats Katie to the answer and is almost always right. A few days ago I told him about something that was going to happen in three weeks. He was quiet for a few seconds, then said, “Hey, Mom—that’s 21 days!” I don’t know if most 5 year olds can figure such things or not, but I was blown away! (There’s no way Katie could’ve done it.) Again, I was sooooooo excited!!! “Joe!!!” I said. “You just multiplied—did you know that?!” He just got that doofy, awkward grin of his. He always gets it when he’s done something good and is glad—but embarrassed—over the attention. It’s great!

I took him out yesterday with the bow and worked on his form. He’s getting much better at that, too, and I can tell it makes him feel sooooooo good to be able to do something athletic. He’s getting better at throwing and catching the football and hitting the baseball, too.

It’s exciting to see Joe learning and doing so many great things. He’s still sweet and tenderhearted though and I hope he always stays that way—to an extent, anyway. He’s the most naturally kind and thoughtful of my three kids and he’s the one more likely to find pleasure in others having fun instead of being selfish. He’s always asking Kate and Sam if they want to take a turn with his bow and arrow and such. He’s a nice kid. Usually. ;-)

And along with all of that, he’s still goofy. Sometime back he was telling me about a dream he’d had the night before about somebody stealing his ears and he wanted to know if he’d still be able to hear if it really did happen and somebody swiped them one day.

Our whole family has been out of whack ever since Youth Convention last weekend. Our sleep schedules (such as they were!) have been lost entirely and we can’t seem to get back into the groove of things at all! I put the kids to bed at the usual time—8:30—a few nights ago. Sometime between 10:30 and 11:00 I hear, “Mom…Mom…” coming from the boys’ room. I went in to see what was going on and Joe started in, slowly, “Well… Sam’s knees are hurting… and my fingers feel weird… and we’re thirsty… and… well… things are just not going very well in here.” Ha! They were both wide awake two and a half hours after having been sent to bed! I pulled them both into one bed and laid down with them for a few minutes and we just talked and sang a couple of songs, then I told them a story about “Joe and Sam” and put them back to bed. They were asleep in no time after that, but I was still cracking up over “things just not going very well in there.”

Well, that’s enough for one night, don’t you think?! I didn’t have a whole lot to talk about otherwise (except the Brooks being around—that’s been fun!) and I’ve just really been enjoying my Joe lately, so I thought I’d write down (or type up, rather) all of the things I’ll likely forget far too soon. Talk to you all soon!

A Happy Mom