Half Changed World

N is at a stage where he desperately wants to be a big boy, or even an adult.  There are so many things that he’s old enough to understand that they’d be fun, but just isn’t big enough to do (cross the street by himself, swim to the deep end, pour himself a glass of milk).  And it’s made worse by having an older brother who can do many of these things.  And who doesn’t hesitate to point out that he’ll always be older. "And when you’re MY age, I’ll be NINE!!"  N has decided that he’s not little any more, he’s "medium."  And maybe next week he’ll be big.

I found myself humming Circle Game last night — "Words like, when you’re older, must appease him/ And promises of someday make his dreams."  Because I know it seems to him like it’s taking forever for him to grow up, but to me it seems like he was a baby in my arms just yesterday.

The song reminded me that we should try capturing fireflies in a jar to make a lantern.  I found a jar and punched holes in the lids.  I explained to the boys that we had to be very gentle with the fireflies, and that when it was bedtime we’d let them go.  (We’re not as brutal as Christopher, but we’re not as tenderhearted as Lyra.)   And I put some ivy in the jar so they’d have something to sit on.

And then we waited.  And waited.  And eventually the fireflies came out, and we caught some and popped them in the jar.  But the darn things wouldn’t light up.  We tried shaking the jar, and we tried leaving it alone, and we tried bringing them into the dark.  And they wouldn’t light up, except for the one that escaped from the jar and flew around D’s room.  Finally, we gave up and let them go, and then they lit up.  I have no idea what we were doing wrong. 

This entry was posted on Monday, July 2nd, 2007 at 9:55 pm and is filed under Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.