Boys!

Last night, Joel came into the family room with a very distraught look on his face and asked Anthony to come see something in his room. When Anthony asked him to describe it, Joel responded that he just couldn't. Well, as it turns out he had been jumping on his bed,which we told him not do many times, and part of the foot board broke. He had also been told many times that if his bed did in fact break because of his jumping, he would have to sleep on his mattress on the floor for a while. So, as Anthony and I are working on the bed situation and trying to see if it was fixable, Joel was quite upset about sleeping on the floor. I was thinking (and hoping ?) it just might teach him little bit of caution because Joel can be a little bit of a "tester". He needs to test things out all the time and see how they work. This wouldn't bother me really, except that he often forgets to ask permission before "testing" something. In fact, in the twenty four hours since the bed incident, Joel tested his small magnetic spider man on several of our Christmas ornaments and accidentally shattered one all over the floor. Later, while we were at Borders, he was testing a spinner on a game book that we were thinking about buying and nearly broke it. Not really a big deal, but he did have to use his own money to pay for the book. But, back to last night and the bed. So, Anthony and I were working on the bed and Joel was very obediently getting his pajamas on and brushing his teeth, all the while he was very remorseful about the whole thing. Through his tears, he manages to ask me the question that was really bothering him, "Will I have to sleep on the floor until I'm a teenager, mom?" It was hard to hold back the laughter, but I managed and calmly told him, "No, not until you are a teenager." What a change this information brought, he was so relieved that he wouldn't be sleeping on his mattress on the floor until his teens that his entire outlook changed and now he thought the prospect to be quite an adventure. He could even handle sleeping on the floor until he was seven! What do I do with such a boy? How do I encourage all his wonderful qualities and still teach him wisdom and respect?

Maybe the book Ethan picked out will give us some ideas about how to direct all that boyish energy, into something more productive. It has all the sorts of things that a boy would want to learn how to do: make a bow and arrow, tie knots, build a tree house, play table football, and stories of battles and heroes. Ethan has been enjoying it and I'm sure Joel will be excited when he can finally read it himself. Until then, he'll have to enjoy sharing in his older brother's adventures.