Tonight, on the eve of the eve of his fourth birthday, Jonah B is sobbing his heart out in his Spongebob pajamas. Why? Because he does not want to turn four. Apparently, he's really enjoyed being three. And possibly, given his contemplative nature, he's bummed about the passing of time. Fortunately, it was nothing a little early birthday present (super cool ball with all of the planets on it) couldn't cure, but man--real tears and everything.
Also sensitive is Jonah's art. Today he presented me with two creations that he made at school. The first was a card, addressed to "MOME" at our house number, with the following message: "MOME LUV JONAH AND NATE i LOVe ADE [Daddy?] BLiG BOL BLEG [That's "bowling ball" and "bowling"][.]"
The second was a totally recognizable flag of Japan, complete with stick. Everyone is very high on Japan these days, as it is (a) the country of origin of part of our family, (b) the site of the first leg on this season of The Amazing Race, which the guys are VERY into (more on that in a minute), and (c) the site of one of our very first efforts at a Top Secret Adventure. Even so, I'm not sure that Jonah's plan to "send it to the government for Japan" is going to take off. Unsurprisingly, the letter he dictated for me to send to our own government -- "Dear Government, I would like a rocket ship, Love Jonah" did not get us any closer in our quest to visit outer space. Still: one very cute dark blue Japanese flag now waves, as only construction paper can, in our kitchen. And I'm pretty sure his teachers think I feed him flash cards for breakfast.
And also sensitive is poor Nate, who is so stressed out about seeing his favorite team compete in The Amazing Race that he cannot bear to watch the final, million dollar episode. He therefore composed the following list of Rules For Watching The Final Amazing Race:
1. Nate will not be watching.
2. Mom, tell me who won a million dollars.
3. Tell me who won 2nd.
4. Tell me who won 3rd.
5. Tell me where they went.
6. Have fun!
Nate is also proving to be a shrewd viewer. He's started an old season that we happen to have on DVD, and he immediately picked an excellent favorite team, the much-loved Jill and Jon Vito. At the same time, however, he already knows who wins that season, because before I realized that we had it on DVD, I was telling him about the sad outcome of that season (when sweet Zach and wretched Flo stole the win at the last second by sheer taxi luck). Nate has therefore decided to hedge his bets by also rooting for Zach and Flo. Which isn't a half-bad strategy, as it improves his chances of actually making it through the season with his nerves intact.
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