Three Great Things

Well, I suppose my last post looks pretty negative taken all together, so I've decided I'm going to write down three great things about each of my kids. Not just nice, not just sweet, but really really great. You're under no obligation to read on any further; this is mostly for my benefit. It'll probably end up pretty gag-worthy to anyone else. But it must be done!

Here are three great things about Ben:

NUMBER 1 is his face, no doubt about it. I love the faces he makes when he's completely dumbfounded by something you've said and is busy trying to think of an honest response. I love his look of utter disgust. I LOVE his story-telling faces. He's also got a self-induced "fake" smile for cameras that makes it near impossible to get the genuine thing on film (or whatever the digital equivalent of that saying is). The fake smile is pretty hilarious, but the real thing is the best.

NUMBER 2 is his voice. He's got a really expressive voice right now. It's to die for, the way it can squeak way up high with sheer delight. Matt and I both have the joy of having heard Ben when he was four imitate a video game's "You go, girl!" in the sweetest little boy voice you ever heard. We'll hang on to that one as long as we can.

NUMBER 3 is several wrapped up into a package, which I will call Artistic Sensibilities. He's got a lot of artisitc talent: drawing, music (especially piano so far, but he's no slouch when he's in the mood to sing), and story telling. Hope he does something with all of them.

Here are three great things about Josh:

One would think this would be the poser, but really the reason I have yet to go completely insane is that there is so much precious about him that it keeps the balance tilted in the right direction no matter what the mess.

NUMBER 1 is his grin. You need only see it to understand. Yep, I mean that little mischievous one.

NUMBER 2 is him talking (and singing). I was just the other day remembering a time not so long ago when I despaired of him ever communicating with us at all. One year of speech therapy later, and now I can't make him STOP talking. And if it gets annoying, I can remember that other time and think how precious it is to know what's going through the mind of one of the most interesting individuals on the planet today. Mostly it's scenes from movies, which he has an amazing gift for memorizing.

NUMBER 3 is his ability to pull off looking perectly innocent and intentionally wicked all at the same time. I don't know how he does it, but he does. It's freaking disarming. Hope it doesn't last into his teens...

Here are three great things about Joseph:

This one's a bit more of a poser, since he's only one year old and hasn't entirely come into his own, personality-wise. But there's enough of it there for this post.

NUMBER 1 is his ability to hold his own with two older brothers already. He seems to have recently figured out that The Best Defense is a Good Offense (creed of the Burr Brothers). He's a mixer, no doubt about it. I don't know why I get such a kick out of it.

NUMBER 2 is his eyes. -are his eyes? There is no way to make that a grammatically pleasing sentence, so I'm moving on. Because you've seen his eyes, and know exactly what I mean.

NUMBER 3 is the combination of love for his parents (he's a COMPLETE Daddy's boy, but I'll do for him in a pinch), and a serious feisty streak. I think it's a combination that will serve him well if he can hang onto it into the future. Love for his parents will give us a better chance of teaching him good things, feistiness gives him a better chance of doing what's right in an increasingly stupid world.

Well, if you read this far, then you're probably a grandparent. For any other hapless reader, I want you to know that I would have just printed this out and tucked it in my journal, but I'm watching a preformance of Mahler's 2nd Symphony right now. It's heavy emotional stuff, all about death and resurrection. And I thought "What if I or one of my kids were to die tomorrow, and all anybody knew was all the griping I do about my kids?"

They are three really great kids.