Matter of fact Merry Christmas

I volunteer to help in Joseph's 1st grade class every week. It is so fun, except for the kids with bad breath and bad hygiene. Or there is one kid who wears cologne. He is SIX and he is doused in cologne. Anyway, I do enjoy it a lot. I get to see what my boy is doing in school and who he interacts with.

Last Wednesday, Joseph's teacher told the kids about her neighbor, whose husband is in Afghanistan. She felt it would be nice if her students wrote a letter to the soldiers for Christmas. Joseph scurried to his desk with his paper and began to write. He was done before anyone else.

"Dear Soldier,
Why did you have to go to war? Oh, I get it, you did it for our country."
Love, Joseph

His teacher laughed and said, "That is soooooo Joseph. It really shows his personality." I encouraged him to write Merry Christmas on the letter, which he did along with a detailed picture of tanks and helicopters exploding and on fire.

So, Merry Christmas dear soldier. We really are thankful for the amazing service and love you show to us by serving our country.

Heart to Heart

As I was tucking Joseph into bed the other night he said "Mom, can we have a heart to heart talk?" I was so surprised he used that phrasing I laughed...but he was totally serious. We ended up talking about what makes boys and girls different. It wasn't quite the kind of "heart to heart" conversation I was expecting to have. Without getting to descriptive, what he really wanted to know was why certain things happen to boys. Joseph is turning 6 in a few weeks....but isn't he awfully young to be asking those kinds of questions? I always pictured us sitting down and explaining it to him...when he was 12...not almost 6!!!

Does anyone else out there have any good "heart to heart" conversations they'd like to share?

The lion in the Wizard of Oz had.........

Neal was testing Joseph the other day about the movies we watch. Neal kept tempting Joseph and enticing him to watch a movie that was not appropriate for a 5 year old. Joseph told on him, of course.

Joseph: "Mom.....Dad wanted me to watch the movie Cloverfield with him."

Me: "Oh. Well, why didn't you watch that bad movie with Dad Joseph"?

Joseph: "Because I had COURAGE!"

I love my smart little boy!