When JP (aka Son #1) was little, he wouldn't talk. It wasn't that he COULDN'T talk, he just made the conscious decision not to. He was never disrespectful in his silence; he found other ways to communicate.
Once, we were headed to family party out of state. When we pulled into Jason's cousin's driveway, JP said simply, "I am not going to talk today." And he didn't. For hours upon hours, the child was silent. When we got into the car to leave, he was no sooner buckled into his booster seat, than the words came pouring out. He talked for the entire car ride home.
He was the same way in preschool, Kindergarten and First Grade. If he decided not to talk, there was no way he was going to make a sound.
It takes an inordinate amount of will power not to speak for an extended period of time...especially for a child. I have to give him credit for his tenacity. I know I sure couldn't go a full day without talking.
As JP got older, he did begin to talk in school. Of my four kids, though, he remains the most quiet to this day. He has never been one to make scenes yelling or carrying on. He uses his words sparingly, but I must admit, to great effect.
Last night, during what started off as a perfectly benign conversation among Jason, JP & I, JP swore. For those of you that know me well, you know that I have a mouth like a sailor...as does Jason. I was not shocked by what JP said (in fact, I was laughing), but what struck me was the fact that he was comfortable enough to say it in front of me. I pointed out to him that even now, at my advanced age, I don't swear in front of my parents. He then pointed out that he has heard my parents and Jason's parents swear...and he's right.
So after he went upstairs, he went onto Facebook, and posted his status as "JP is going to start a group" Now, I know he was just being silly, and I know he did it just to get a reaction out of me. Well, it worked. I blocked the kids from seeing my status quoting him, and my oh my did my friends chime in.
One of the best responses was that I should start a FB group named "things I can kick JP out of the house for saying now that he is 18." Naturally, I jumped all over that, and I made it my status. JP's response was simply, "well played."
Now that he is getting older, I love having conversations with him on an adult level. His humor is quick witted, his beliefs are passionate, and his words are used wisely.
Well, most of the time.
No comments:
Post a Comment