veg4puff

This is Noodle at 18 months, newly weaned and deep in thought. As I look back at this I realize he was probably thinking he had been wearing that diaper for way too long, since it was hanging nearly to his knees. My mother was present for his birth, which translates in to: she stood with her face pressed to the surgery room door when I was whisked in for an emergency c-section. After he and I were reunited back in my hospital room my mother looked down at him and said "He's a big thinker!". It's been an ongoing joke in our family now for almost 7 years. We captured  her saying that on videotape and we replay it whenever she comes to visit. "Gee Ma, what do you think an hour old baby was thinking about?"

The scary thing is, she was right. We actually find ourselves commenting behind his back "Man, that kid is a big thinker!"

If he isn't thinking- he's talking, if he isn't talking- it's because his mouth is full of food and he knows he'll get a lickin' from his Mama if he opens his mouth.

When he was only slightly older than the above photo my husband was sent to Egypt unexpectedly for 3 months. While he was deployed I remember driving along in the car and hearing Noodle say "Look at da clouds! They movin' fast Mommy! I want to jump on so they take me wit dem all da way to Daddy"

When he was 3 years old and I was pregnant with Cakes I was forced to leave him at a drop-in daycare so I could get a sonogram. The room was filled with other little boys and girls and oodles of toys and books to be discovered. I knew Noodle wasn't happy about being left, but I assured him I would be back in an hour. When I returned I peeked in through the little side window and saw the whole class sitting around the table having a snack. All but one. As I opened the door I caught a glimpse of his feet sticking out from behind a bean bag chair. I looked quizzically at the teacher who said, " He didn't really want to participate". I walked over to the bean bag chair and found him laying on his back on the ground with his hands entwined behind his head, knees bent. "Honey, whatcha doing?" I asked. "Just thinking about how trees grow, Mama" he replied as he jumped up and hugged me. A whole room of potential fun and he chose to lay in the corner and contemplate nature.

Now he is in first grade and doing quite well. There is a reading program at his school called Accelerated Reader. Read a book, take a test, for each 100% correct test you get a 1/2 a point. Accumulate 40 points and win an award and a trophy. Noodle was in the lead from the moment they said "Read!". A month into the school year a new kid with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder joined the class and blew by Noodle. A week before winter break the OCD kid reached his goal of 40 points. Noodle was at 39. He stood by and cheered for OCD and was genuinely happy for him. I was reminded once again what a wholesome little soul he is. Before school let out for break, Noodle reached his goal. However he had to endure 2 and a half weeks of no school before he could receive his award. The first Friday back at school he was awarded his trophy during an assembly. Mistah Checka and I made sure we were there, with camera in hand, assuming we would record a very embarrassed little boy who didn't want any attention. He proved us wrong by standing up tall in front of a sea of 1st-5th graders, eager to pose for photos afterwards.

This week his report card came home in his backpack. I opened it with him sitting next to me and saw it was mainly O's with a handful of S's. He burst into tears. Noodle, being only 6 and being well versed in the alphabet, lifts his head from the table and wails " Maaaaa! (oh, how I miss the Mama days) I am super dumb because I got O's and S's!!" He then proceeded to quickly shout out the alphabet to prove to me that O and S come wayyy after A. Turns out he had overheard an earlier conversation between myself and Mistah Checka, who is currently working on his Master's Degree. I had congratulated my husband on the four A's he received at the end of last semester and Noodle assumed that his report card would look the same.

Last weekend after we were leaving a birthday party for a friend of his Noodle spotted a teenaged girl smoking.

"Ma? When I get older do you think I can at least try a cigarette so I can see for myself why you say smoking is so gross? I mean, sometimes it's better to figure stuff out on your own instead of just doing something because your parents tell you to, right? I mean, otherwise I would just want to sneak behind your back and try it and that wouldn't be nice"

I found myself actually agreeing with a first grader that he could try a cigarette when he got older.

Holy crap, what happened to talks about clouds and trees?

He's a thinker all right. If only I could think of a way to make him forget I agreed to buy him a pack of Marlboro's in 10 years.

Comments

[thefoxymama]

As a teen I babysat for an adorable little blond girl of 3, named Nerissa. She was a thinker too. You'd ask her what she was doing and she'd always say "thinking and wondering..." I had occasion to see and talk with her (all grown up now) a few years ago and she became an archeologist and travels to far parts of the globe on "digs" with her archeologist husband. I guess she's still "thinking and wondering..."

Maybe if you give him some dirt and bones to sort through he'll forget about it. Do ya s'pose? ~;^)

[The Food Whore]

Deep thinker and attention getter?

Wonder where he gets that trait...

[veg4me]

Well he already wants to study oceanography...so we'll see, foxy.

And FW, I think he gets those traits from his Leo auntie!

[Valerie]

He's his Mama's child.