Last night our family was invited to a friend’s home for dinner. They have a super cute little girl who just turned four years-old, and for an only-child, she is the nicest, friendliest and sweetest little girl that I have met. And most of you know that I have met a lot of children… I’m not just saying this because there is a possibility her mother may be reading this blog. First of all, she loves being a “big sister” to Lila and doted on her all night. Most kids have a hard time sharing their toys (especially their new birthday toys), but for this little girl, she is incredibly nice. Without asking, she is always sharing, offering, suggesting, compromising, and making sure everyone is having fun. At one point during the night, I saw her digging out toys for Miles to play with, and apologizing that she didn’t have any trucks or cars. She assured us that next time we come over, she would have toys for Miles. Most kids would be like, “If you don’t like any of my toys, oh well, your loss!” It sounds funny to say this, but she is a very well-adjusted child.
One of the really neat things I got to observe last night was the difference between boys and girls. This little girl loves to draw, color and write. Her pictures have details and her writing is impeccable. She asked me how to spell ’Feel Better Mommy.’ I was flabbergasted at how well she was writing…for a four year-old! Part of me wanted to show Miles her writing and say, “See Miles, look how pretty she writes!!” But I withheld. Miles was on other side of the house playing with some toys making crashing, screeching, and siren sounds with his mouth. Coloring and writing would be the last thing he would want to do at a friend’s home. Boys are just busy. Well, our boy is particularly busy. Everyday, Jason and I try to sit down with Miles and work on his letters, but Miles gets impatient and wants to get up and play.
Do I wish Miles could write just as well as this little girl? Of course I do! But I know it’s something that Miles is not interested in now, and he probably won’t be journaling any time soon. What I have to say about Miles is that he has a wonderful and creative imagination. He’s great at telling stories and he includes much detail and suspense. He also loves music so that is something we encourage a lot of in our home. I was talking about this with another girlfriend of mine recently. By the time Miles gets to high school, much or all of his writing will be done on the computer. There is something to be said about having nice penmanship, but the reality is, some kids are not as interested as others.
This story kind of reminds me of an interaction my parents had a few years ago. When my father’s dementia started to really take over, we (my parents and my brother) took my father in to a Neurology appointment. I remember the physician asked my father to write a short sentence (a Neurologist may ask a patient to write a short sentence as part of a Mental Status Examination). I was sitting across the room and couldn’t see what he had written. Afterwards, he put his pencil down and looked at his wife and smiled. I saw my mom tear up. I thought immediately that my dad probably wrote some random words and letters on the paper. When I peeked over to see what he had written, in his most perfect penmanship, my father wrote: “I love my wife.”
This is probably the last sentence he wrote before he declined significantly.
