James

 

On Mondays I get to pick James up from school.  When it is not soccer season,  I also get Ila. But for now, it is just James.

For all my postings and photos on social media, believe it or not, there are times when my phone is not the most important thing in my life and not even being thought about.  I am going to share two stories about James, and neither story has any photos to go with them.  At the time, in the moment, I was simply enjoying James. Feel free to enjoy the above photo though.

A week or two ago, the Monday was wearing down.  It was closing in on bedtime.  James had already had his bath and was on the couch watching tv before bed.  Now picture it, because there are precious few things cuter than a clean toddler with a wet head all snug in their jammies. Add to this his daddy's boots, keeping in mind his daddy has HUGE boots.  James is up against the back of the couch, legs extended.  He has on Dustin's boots which pretty much take up little James' entire lower body.  He is also wearing his swimming goggles over his eyes and a zebra mask he colored at school over the goggles.  We are watching "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Superheroes".  Mortimer Mouse has shrunk all the places in Mickey Mouse land, placed them into balls and then made a collection out of all the balls.  Why?  Because HE WANTS TO!  (That part is important to my story.) James is enthralled with the show.  He has seen it before, because he knows what comes next.  I am not watching the show.  I am watching James.  Towards the end of the show,  there is a song about how Mortimer has shrunk all these places and collected them.  James is singing along.  His eyes never leaving the tv screen.  Each time they get to the line "HE WANTS TO",  James SHOUTS the line, raises his arm high into the air and gives a fist bump.  Y'all, I could have watched this all night long.  

Next story was yesterday.  Just me and James.

We go to the playground.  There is a father and daughter doing homework at a table, and what appears to be their son/brother who seems quite happy that another kid has made an appearance at the park. This kid seems to be around 8-ish. He says nothing to James, but begins following us around.  If James goes down the slide, Big Kid goes down the slide.  If James swings, Big Kid swings.  Initially James does not acknowledge this kid in any way, but eventually James says, to me, "I think I have a new friend." James decides to climb up a slide.  There is a similar slide next to it.  Big Kid yells that he will race James to the top.  8 year old Big Kid easily beats 3 year old James and makes his declaration to the fact.  James says, "No, you didn't."  Big Kid is all, "Yes, I did", and James is all, "No, you didn't."  Big Kid doesn't get angry or upset.  Instead, he appears confused.  He doesn't know what to do with this kid who will not admit his defeat.  Just then, James reverses course.  He flips around, slides down the slide,  yells that he is racing Big Kid down the slide and he wins because of his fastness.  Now, James did win, but only because it took Big Kid a moment to figure out what was happening, but James knew it was his speed that made him the winner.  Big Kid decides they must run a foot race to decide who truly is the fastest.  James, knowing how fast he is, is all in!! Big Kid runs past the slides and out into the open grass.  James runs circles around the slides.  As he is running, he is yelling about his speed!  Big Kid stops running.  He watches James.  Big Kid is confused.  Again.   James is running, running, running around the slides declaring his speed, and then he ... falls.  Flat.  Face first into the pea gravel.  He didn't even reach out to break his fall.  Just splat.  No moving.  No crying.  No "ouch!".  No nothing.  He just lies there.  I go over to him.  I pick him up.  He is smiling.  I place him down on his feet.  And he begins running again.  Exactly where he left off from.  Big Kid has no idea what to make of this little ball of fire.  They throw a few rocks down the slides together before James decides it's time to head home.  He tells his new friend "goodbye".