Call It What You Want...

Mark pointed out to me that a nice lawn chair had been left outside in the rain, so I went to bring it in.
When I returned, he asked, "Are you a good helper, Mommy?"
I think I was.

Last night we were all happily sleeping when a really HUGE crash of thunder woke us. It woke Mark too, who screamed "DAAAAAAAA-DEEEEEEE! The thunder scared me!" I was proud of him for clearly articulating what the trouble was, especially in light of the other times he wakes up screaming and is incoherent.
Immediately upon Daddy's arrival in his room, he said, "Toy?"
I followed Daddy into the room. He was holding the trembling little guy (the thunder was really loud), who told me also that the thunder had scared him, and then he asked me for a toy. I thought he wanted a toy on his shelf or under his bed. "What toy do you want?" I asked, expecting the typical "Mommy pick" or whining.
"James," he answered without hesitation.
Here it's the middle of the night, he's just been scared out of his wits, and he knows exactly which toy he wants.

Now, mind you, the little brother slept through all the hubbub -- the lightning and thunder and accompanying screaming and shouting. Good little sleeper (this time). Actually, he'd already been up twice in the night before this happened. So it was all good.

Speaking of the little brother, Adam can now walk by himself with his little walking toy. He loves it, and loves to go back and forth across the living room with it. He just laughs and laughs. He walks until he crashes into something immovable, and then (usually) waits until I turn him and the toy around, then goes back. Back and forth, back and forth. There are lines in the carpet, sort of like the ones the vacuum cleaner or Roomba leave, except without the benefit of it being clean now. Oh well. (This toy we got free from a neighbor when Mark was learning to walk. He loved it, too.)

I also am the hero as I cleaned out the Noblesvillian's car last night. He was worn out, so I took on one task. In cleaning, I found a few lost items and put a few other things back into useful places (the car registration, not just sitting in the back seat, for example). AND -- the Noblesvillian is such a hero, because he managed to repair the gas-tank door, which has been broken since winter! I am always nervous when he takes apart things that a factory put together (like a car), but he popped off a few pieces of trim and got the piece out that opens the trunk and the gas tank door, and fixed it! Hurray! Now if only that jerk at his work hadn't dinged his door (he knows which car is yours...), it would be as good as new. :)

Oh. The other random story I sent to some of you already.

A few weeks ago, Mark and I were playing outside and he kept talking about the tractor coming to our field (behind our house) to harvest the wheat. I kept telling him, "No, not yet, but soon."
Actually, the tractor was in the neighboring fields; by the end of the day, our field was harvested.
Some days later, Mark and Daddy were at home and Mark informed Daddy that the tractor was in the field with the seed drill.
"Okay, buddy, whatever you say..." (You hate to contradict the boy who is certain.)
Yesterday I noticed green growing in between the rows of harvested wheat. I went to check. Soybeans. Darn if he wasn't right.
According to our friend Greg, who is a big-brain for Pioneer, "The wheat harvest was earlier than normal this year so lots of the farmers around here are trying to 'double-crop' soybeans this summer. This rain is just what they needed too, so with more heat this summer, they should get a good second crop by October."

Greg also complimented him, saying he was a smart kid, and most people wouldn't have a clue about such things...I have to admit that the kid's MOTHER would be among those who wouldn't have a clue... (And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what you get when you let your kid read books, the darn things!)