Elastic

I'm constantly amazed by how resilient Jordan is. He's five and almost three months now, for those keeping count. He lost his second tooth yesterday, one of the original two that popped out four years and almost nine months ago. He gets $5 a tooth, plus gobs of toys and stuff, so he's already looking for the next one to loosen up and fall out. He may have located it already.

As a parent, I feel things much more than he does at his age. One of the things I feel that he seems to have become impervious to is cliques. Even at his young age, in prekindergarten, no less, cliques form. I suppose that is natural. Jordan knows no boundaries, though, and since he has no siblings, he has no experience with the need to ostracize others from his activities. On the contrary, he longs for others to join him in whatever he does. When I hear one of his classmates tell him he's not welcome in an activity, my heart breaks. Jordan, however, either ignores the admonishment and continues to play or he goes off and does his own thing.

He is independent, able to occupy himself alone, probably better than he can with others. The ability to join in with the others is one of his shortcomings in school, not because there is anything wrong with him, but because he hasn't been taught how. That falls back on me and my inability to schedule playdates with the other moms or dads. I should have tried harder, been brave, like my son is brave, fearless, ready to try anything no matter how embarrassing it might be.

And now that I am ready to emulate his fearlessness, it appears that we're moving. I was just starting to learn the streets, too.

But there's a little snow left

Getting Jordan ready for school today, I told him to put on some shoes. He came out with his snow boots, not the heaviest that he has, but still heavy. I told him he could wear something less heavy, but he answered, "There's still some snow left on the playground, and if I don't have boots on, the teacher won't let me get in it."

It's nearly 60 degrees the last couple of days, so most of the snow is gone, but where it's been stacked deep--talking four to six feet--the drifts remain. And as long as they do, Jordan will be searching them out to play in.