"Whaaa....?!? It isn't me!" - Domenic feb.2011

This is my youngest boy Domenic. He's a character, if you couldn't tell. He does everything without limit... be it laughter, love, hurt feelings, crying, rambunctious behavior, anger, disappointment, having fun, being crazy and... as it turns out dancing. So last weekend, while I was folding laundry, I turned on a "radio station" on our xbox live where you type in the name of a band and they match your choice with music from other bands/musicians. So, I know my boys usually like the Gorillas and it being a sunny Saturday afternoon... it made sense.

I can't recall which song it was, but it had a friendly beat, the kind that might get one's toe tapping or head bobbing. The bigger boys were in their room and Ms. H was in her swing. Domenic was kind of chillin' with me when all of a sudden his hips start bumping back and forth to the beat. His shoulders remained perfectly still and his arms were kind of at his sides, bent at the elbow with his hands in front. I looked at him and smiled. I thought he would return the smile, but all I got back were surprised eyes with a partially hidden smirk where his smile should have been. He then shrugged and said "Whaaa?!? It isn't me!" Then his body burst into a very animated dance of its own making, or so he would have me believe, followed by an indescribably infectious laughter. The room was immediately filled with movement and sound by a single 5 year old.

My only thought? Man, I need to get this kid into some hip-hop dance lessons.

"People Change." - Liam jan.2011

Or so says my 7 year old son when I asked him why he wasn't playing with one of his friends from his old school at day care. You see, as a result of our purchasing a home this past year, my children had to change schools. They traded in their blue Falcon shirts for a slightly more imposing white Bulldog on their new red shirts.

Again, I bring to mind: "People change" he said with a matter of fact shrug as he walked past me toward the exit. He's 7 and he's already come to terms with one of those profound understandings that most people don't get until they are at least in their mid-twenties... or at least it was something that I didn't get until then. But it does beg the question.... How much can a little boy change between kindergarten and first grade and more importantly, which of the two boys did the changing. I cannot even begin to fathom what it was that polarized their relationship that just last year was conga-lining itself around the cafeteria at their then shared elementary school during the mother-son dance we attended. I suppose it doesn't really matter the why's and the how's, I just have to chuckle at the serious nature of his response and stand in the awe of the fact that I have a child that emerged from MY womb that has some understanding of an essential human truth. People change... that and the word poop is fun to put into nearly any sentence. Yeah, he's got that one down pat.