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Little Boys


Yesterday Jonathan, Henry and I went for a glorious walk in the sunshine. Both of them had just gotten up from a great nap, and were well rested,fed, bright eyed and bushy (haired!). Henry was in the stroller and Jonathan walked beside him, with his hand resting on the stroller tray. We hadn't walked very far when Jonathan looked over at Henry and said affectionately, "Hey, buddy." ...if my heart hadn't already melted, Jonathan then proceeded to look back at me and say, "I love you Mommy. I could be a good boy, and you could be happy Momma." Definitely a moment I want to remember forever.
As we walked, I thought about how a little boy's curiosity is at it's best outdoors. Henry's curiosity is expressed right now by getting into everything, and Jonathan's through questions: what's that momma, what does it do momma, why does it do that momma, where's it going momma, where did it go momma? (in that order.) While we were walking, H wasn't getting into anything, and J wasn't asking any questions. There was so much to see, observe, so many sticks to stop and pick up, bugs to poke, and even a couple bridges to stop and throw rocks/dirt/leaves off of! The boys were gloriously happy, and in their element. Their curiosity was so satisfied by the outdoors that they had no need for naughtiness. I watched their little heads as we walked: Jonathan's brown haired one, and Henry's blonde, both so content.
At one point we walked past a handful of older boys (between 7 and 13ish) playing baseball at the end of a street. Jonathan could hardly keep walking, he was so interested. I could just see in his little eyes, "I could be a big kid and play baseball someday too!". On the way back we passed them again and J asked if he could sit on the curb and watch them, "You could sit next to me, Momma?" He sat with his chin in his hand, sandals resting still on the pavement.
Henry's main point of interest was a propeller plane that passed over us: "a-pane? a-pane? a-pane?..." he repeated, pointing up at it.
Really, truly: Frogs, snails and puppy-dog tails, that's what little boys are made of. :)

*the photo above is not of either of my boys... I didn't have my camera with me. The picture does capture the contentedness of a little boy outside, so I thought I'd attach it to this post. Maybe I'll replace it with a photo of my boys soon.

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