For the past few months, since the sudden and violent disruption of life as I knew it, I've been in NC, recovering from the loss of my life and homeschooling the Langston boys, whom I love dearly. I've come to a conclusion. I love little boys. Period. They're great. I might love little boys better than little girls. Though if I were homeschooling little girls, I might have a different opinion. Anyway, I love them. Here's why.
1) We've been studying botany, in great detail, over the past few months. Jedidiah, the 6 yr old, is a studious, contemplative fellow, and he loves botany. It was with great pleasure that he showed me his botany journal - page after page of leaves of all kinds, pasted in the notebook and covered with contact paper. "This fern loots (looks) lite (like) a bird's weend (wing). And LOOT (look)! This one still has the sperm on it!" SPORES, Jed. Spores.
2) Jedidiah, like his brothers before him, speaks with a very slight speech impediment which in time, he will outgrow, like his brothers before him. However, his quaint speech patterns coupled with vocabulary a bit too sophisticated for most six year olds makes for some hilarious moments. We went on a nature walk, and Jed was thrilled to find ferns in the dry creek bed.
"Loot! This fiddewlhead is unfurlind its fwonds!" He then launches into, what was in his mind, a very tragic story.
"Mrs. Tonya, she sawed a fern. She, she sawed a fiddewlhead. But her dawd ate it. (Shaking head forlornly) Poor widdle fiddewlhead."
"What? Why in the world did Sally eat the fiddlehead, Jedidiah?"
"Well, she lites stits (likes sticks), and she tought it was a stit. (Nodding head understandingly) She's a yun dawd."
That poor yun dawd just didn't know any better than to eat fiddleheads, thinking it was a stit...
3) Jeremiah loves me. I mean, REALLY loves me. He called me his girlfriend today. And then proposed marriage. When I answered maybe, he tried to kiss me. However, I am not the only object of his affection. If he could, he'd marry myself AND my sister. He loves her too. But that's called polygamy, and generally frowned upon in our society. So he contents himself with looking nice for her. He was getting a hair cut when he leaned over and very seriously stated to his mother that Meredith liked his hair long, so please don't cut it too much. He's a ladies' man....
4) Josiah is a Drama King, a brilliant writer, and has a delightfully dry wit, to boot. When he's not feeling intensely all facets of each moment of each day, he comes out with some pretty funny statements. The other day, he was in the midst of some one-track mind drama, and was loudly arguing that my plan was not a good one. One might think the security of the country depended upon the outcome of said plan if one's only indicator was Josiah's passionate exclamations to the contrary. Finally, exasperated, I rolled my eyes and threatened to put fish hooks through his toenails, hang him upside down from the rafters, and beat him with a baseball bat like a pinata if he didn't quit talking back. "Josiah, please be quiet before you provoke me to violence!" I sighed. He raised his eyebrows and shook his head. "I think we're already there Ms Bethany...." Maybe the bit about the baseball bat was a little much....
