Boone

Boone has become overly affectionate the last week. He is giving everyone around him random smooches. And they’re wet. Be aware if you see him in the next little bit and you are one of his people. Calder and Boone have created a special handshake. It includes a kiss on the lips (and if you know Calder, this would be outside his comfort zone!), and more fittingly for both boys ends in them faking a fart and declaring, “Oooooo, that smells good!”

Of all of our kids, Boone cries the easiest. And when I say he cries, it is actually more like wails. This summer we have noticed a huge change in this regard. In fact, there have been multiple times when he has been legitimately injured and he hasn’t dropped a tear. Although Hugh and I are both excited about this, Hugh is the most. The octave of Boone’s wail was at a frequency that especially grated on Hugh!

Boone is our bug/gross stuff boy. Last week Calder saw a spider in the cabin and he called in Boone to take care of it. Boone is the one that picks dead minnows and crayfish out of the water and picks earth worms out of the dirt. He is more than happy to deal with any kind of gross creature. And I’m not going to lie, it’s come in handy on occasion.

In the last year I have been worried about Boone starting Kindergarten. Calder was reading (I think Hugh tested him at this time of year to be at a grade 2 reading level) when he was 5 and Calder could not only count over 100, he could even skip count (2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s) and add 2 digit numbers. I thought this was normal, because, well, he was my first and I didn’t know any better. Boone can count to 29 almost flawlessly (he will occasionally skip a number), and knows most of his upper case letters. I have tried to get Boone on board with “school” stuff, but he is never interested.  In fact, over the last few months he has only become more interested in learning that kind of stuff because Lawson is interested and although she wouldn’t count quite as well as Boone she knows ALL of her upper case letters and most of the lower case. I have recently become more laid back about Boone’s . Note that I said “more laid back” not actually laid backed. Hugh reminds me almost daily that kids develop differently and although Boone will have “school” things to work on in kindergarten, he won’t have the social things Calder was dealing with. Calder is very introverted and found meeting new people and being in school the whole day difficult. To this day, Calder has a few good friends and typically would just stick to them. Hugh and I both predict Boone to be the opposite. He is extroverted and will be happy to be left at the school door and will have no desire to ever leave. He will also be friends with everyone. Including older kids. And by older, I am including all the way up to grade 8. It is just the way he rolls. 

Hugh is willing to give just about anything to be a fly on the wall of Boone’s kindergarten class. Boone will likely be talking the teacher’s ear off, trying to cracking jokes, most of which will be about farting, and will be throwing his body around feigning falls and body checking kids.

Of all of the kids I'm raising, Boone is the one that feels the least like me and because of that I am often in awe of the little man he is <3 p="">