July 10, 2005 - Sunday
Today was even more relaxed than yesterday with a lazy morning, then a walk to a conert in the park (like we did three years ago we Harry, although this was a wind quintet and not an orchestra). The boys ran around a bit, played with sticks (ah, boys), and found a large bush they could go instead and use like a fort. I remember doing that as a kid, too.

We satyed at the house in the afternoon and it was wonderfully relaxing. It gave the the grandparents a rare chance to just hang out with the boys and see them as they most often are. Harry's been playing grandpa's harpsichord again and over the last couple of days he's has been learning the card game "war" and look for a game wherever he could. Here's he's convinced Grandma Judy to give him a game.

My favorite moment of the day, however, was at dinner. Overall, the boys have been very well behaved at dinners (Jeremy's pickiness excepted on one or two occasions), but tonight there was a brief moment when Harry showed just how mature and considerate he can be. It was all in a passing reaction and something easily missed. But it was a moment that recalled all the other moments when we as parents have tried to teach him to be gracious and polite. Maybe he was listening last night when he got a little anxious and I reminded him to be patient join the conversation. But, I'm sure it was also an instance of him trying very hard to incorporate everything else he's learned at home and at school about being courteous and patient and all coming to together.

It was near the end of the dinner and he started to say something. However, his mother also started to say something at the same moment. Who usually wins that one?

Immediately, Harry stopped and deliberately closed his mouth, turning slightly toward his mother, stiffening his back against his chair, and clasping his hands in quiet abeyance. Sometimes during dinner at home if he's really thinking about being polite, usually after he's been reminded, he'll raise his hand denoting that he will be next to speak. He did not do that here. He relaxed and turned his eyes back straight and waited, continuing to hold his hands patiently for his mother to finish. When she did, he waited another brief moment more to make sure. Then he started telling Grandma Judy about the movie Star Wars: Episode I (a.k.a., the "Pod Racer Movie") and describing a particularly interested scene.

Of course, Grandma Judy had no idea what he was talking about. And of course, he couldn't have realized that such context shifting without explanation can be a bit difficult for others to follow. But, it certainly came from the heart as something he found particularly compelling and something about which he thought others would likely enjoy knowing and thus, to a five-year-old boy, it was perfect dinner conversation. I was extremely proud.


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