Giving Up On Dreams...

I had such a great afternoon with Mitchell today! After putting Jack to bed, I normally find or create a non-mom-involved activity to keep him busy for a while so I can have a selfish moment or two. Say what you will, I think it is good for him to be on his own a bit, inventing things to do, using his creativity, and learning to play alone. That is not always an easy lesson to learn for a middle child.

But today, I felt like spending some extra time with my middle child so, after putting Jack down for a much-needed nap, we snuggled up under a quilt on the couch with hot chocolate and coffee and just... talked. Not often one to elaborate on his own personal thoughts, today was a rarity in that he was a fountain of Mitchell thoughts! It was such a rare glimpse into the world of Mitchell!

After a while, he started talking about school, and without really meaning to (if I had asked him to do this, he would have clammed up and not said a word...) he began telling me all he has been learning in school.

He showed off his knowledge of shapes and obscure colors; days of the week, months of the year, and seasons; letters of the week and their sounds; and finally, his favorite, counting. He loves to count. He counts everything: goldfish snacks and grapes, buttons on my dashboard, coats on the coatrack, kids on the playground, plates on the table, forks in the drawer... you get it. He counts everything. It's almost a little OCD sometimes.

So he wanted to show off his counting to me. This kid is good for a 4-year-old! He got all the way to 139 (skipping 13 both times, of course... weird kid...) when he paused, saying, "Mom, am I almost to a billion?"

I smiled and told him he was nowhere close.

He though about continuing for a second and decided, "Well, this is taking a long time. I know how to count higher but I'm tired of doing this. Let's count my cars instead!"

I wonder if he will ever realize his dream of actually counting to a billion...