On Top Of Old Smokey The Car Garage

Have I mentioned that I love little boys?

I have? Oh, well, let me say it again.....I LOVE little boys. I love their intense and continuous curiosity. I love the "Yeah, yeah, everyone does it that way. How can I do it differently?" or even, "I did it that way five minutes ago. I want to do it differently."

I love that. A lot.

I haven't always been this way. In fact, when I was pregnant with Jakob, David and I both wanted a girl.

Now I did feel this way, to a degree, at my last job when I was teaching two-year-olds. I just love how God so obviously made boys and girls with specific tasks, interests, and needs. Tasks, interests, and needs that if developed and encouraged will make us be exactly what God meant for us to be.

The best way to get down to the basics of what we are as genders is to spend time with children. The younger, the better...to a degree. (Babies of both genders act incredibly similar the younger you go....the younger the babies are, the more similar.)And Jakob is just getting to the stage where his 'little boyness' is coming out. Like how he wouldlay ontop of the big red ball and let himself roll until he hit the ground. Most girls his age won't do that.

Anyway, you may not be wondering what brought all this on....and here it is...Jakob has recently gotten into a real climbing phase. Kids this age have a real God-given need to climb.

Today, he was sooooooo whiny. Nothing we did made him happy, until I pulled out our car ramp. I have saved it for the older kids. Jakob just hasn't found any interest in it until today. He has watched Cade and Kassidy play with it, but has not been ready for it himself.

Today, when I pulled it out, all whining ceased...for an hour. (An hour is equivalent to a week in toddler time, by the way.)

He climbed on it. He found as many ways to climb up and down as he could, and when one way wouldn't work, he didn't get frustrated, he retraced his last step and tried a different way. I really loved watching him play with this.

At first-for a split second- I was worried about him falling, but -today at least-he didn't even wobble. He was so sturdy and sure of himself. He was cautious, but that didn't keep him from exploring.

I was so proud and impressed.