He is so cute!

J and I had a little talk yesterday. Before school he came to me and said: "Momma, I've lost my laughter." Talk about breaking a Momma's heart! I asked when, and he said "I think when Bo died." Yep, three weeks ago.

I know he's had his laughter since then, but I also know that the loss of that dog made a big impact on him. He's healing, but it sure takes time.

I response to his loss of laughter we talked about mourning, and how the Bible says there is a time for mourning, so it is okay for him to continue to feel sad. And that there may be times when he feels joyful again, and back and forth for awhile. He seemed pretty satisfied with that. And he cheered up knowing that there wasn't anything wrong with him for being sad about his dog dying.

I'll share a little poem he wrote for school last night. He was supposed to select an animal and write a poem that had five facts about the animal, without naming the animal. Then today the children read their poems to each other and tried to guess the animal. Here is J's contribution to this project (spelling all his own!):

I onse had a creacher

hoo liked to play in water.

He likes to Jump around

on the teeter totter

Neer the swamp where he was found.

He uses his webd tows

and very fast he goes.

In winter he goes to sleep

Under the mud without a peep.

He got a star for that one. Now he's all into poetry, trying to talk in rhyme all the time.

Just to keep you up on where he is otherwise, he still won't eat fruit. He'll eat small amounts of broccoli, loves refried beans, insists on having something in his lunch daily that he can microwave, and puts his scrambled eggs on top of his peanut butter and jelly toast every morning. He's on a ham and cheese sandwich kick for lunches - but no mustard or mayo please, he likes it dry, like his mother.

He won't change out of his school uniform after school because he claims it is the most comfortable things he has to wear - but come the weekend he loves his sweats and t's. He doesn't like to part his hair, but looks so nice when he does it because his dad told him to.

He considers toy catalogs to be magazines, and instead of making a Christmas list he is putting marks by the things he wants. Then, last night I found him with the catalog in bed, and he looked at me sheepishly and said he felt guilty because some of the things he marked cost more than $100. He said he asked for those things because he didn't want to have to make the effort to save his money for them. But he also knows that he's not getting five or six hundred dollar plus items - he's realistic at least!

He continues to love Latin. He likes school, but mostly because it's where he gets to be with other kids. He does well when he applies himself, but he is so easily distracted that he gets a few humbling grades from time to time. One low grade will usually kick him back into making an effort. He loves his teacher, and is really worried about her brother who they pray for daily as he is in Iraq fighting the war.

That's just a little snap shot. He's my boy, and I love him so!