A Conversation with Boys

I was playing with my hair this morning, trying to make it cooperate with me. David asked me what I was doing, which led to this converation:

David: What are you doing with your hair?
Me: Just playing with it.
David: Why?
Me: 'Cause girls like to play with hair.
Harris: Well, boys don't. Boys like to play with stuff like dinosaurs - especially T-Rexes - and cars and trucks and...
David: And we like to run into walls.

At which point Harris pauses to consider this and then says, "Yeah, and we like to run into walls!"

That explains a LOT - not the least of which is why I've noticed my walls looking quite banged up lately...

Kindergarten Orientation and the First Day of School!

So yesterday was Kindergarten orientation day! We have been SO excited about this day! Harris has been ready to start school since he was three. (Takes after his mommy. I was the nerdy kid who loved school - at least most of the time.) My mom came and stayed with the two little ones, so it was just Harris, daddy, and mommy. He rarely gets us all to himself, so that alone was a treat! At orientation, we learned who Harris' teacher would be - Mrs. Cvacho, who seems very sweet. Our first impressions of her are wonderful! She took the students and parents to her classroom (which happened to be the same classroom I had in Kindergarten!), where she gave instructions and helpful info to the parents while the kids had a snack and colored a picture. Then there were a lot of things to sign up for and forms to fill out. (Now, I'm kinda nerdy and LOVE filling out forms, but it was a bit much even for me. However, I was sitting in the back of a very crowded room filled with excited kids and anxious parents, which made it less than ideal.) Before we knew it, it was time to go home. Harris was a little disappointed that it was over so soon. I assured him that the next day would last longer.

One thing I was a little nervous about was the fact that we didn't know any of the kids or parents. I knew I would get to know them over the course of the year, but it would have been nice to have started out knowing at least one person. But God arranged a meeting that only He could have. After we left the school, we took Harris to Chik-Fil-A for lunch. Another vehicle pulled into the parking lot as we did, and out came two girls not just from Kindergarten, but from Harris' class! Both of the girls moms were with them. We sat next to them and over the course of the conversation, I found out that one of the moms grew up in Bessemer, like me, and now lives in McCalla, like my brother. The other mom uses the same doctor for her OB/GYN as I do! How cool is that?! Harris and the 2 girls had a little bit harder time hitting it off, but they warmed up to each other by the end of lunch.



Today was the potentially hard day. The day I would have to leave Harris at school. I wasn't worried about him, but I wasn't sure I would be able to just drop him off and drive away without getting emotional. Harris bounded out of the car, and into the capable care of the teachers who were working the carpool line, and I drove off. My heart was pounding, but I didn't break down. Instead of going home and dwelling on my baby being in school, I ran errands with David and Amy Beth. Did you know that there are no crowds at Wal-Mart at 8:30 in the morning, and none at the Galleria at 10 am? It was awesome! I could get used to that. Before I knew it, it was time to pick up Harris. He came bounding out of the building with a huge smile on his face. One of the carpool teachers said, "I think Harris had a GREAT first day today!" Over lunch, he told me all about the day. His favorite part was playing on the playground. His second favorite part was going on a tour of the whole school building - especially the library!! He made some new friends, enjoyed the snack I had packed for him, and he likes his teacher. You just can't ask for a better first day! Praise the Lord!

Our Firstborn - Preston Harris Weed, IV

So, one month after my "Isaac Moment", I found out I was pregnant! I was ecstatic. I also felt very strongly from the beginning of the pregnancy that the baby would be a boy. Now, before we were even married, I knew Preston wanted to carry on the tradition of naming our firstborn son the same name that he, his dad, and his grandfather had - Preston Harris Weed - but our son would be the Fourth, so Preston Harris Weed, IV and we had decided early on that he would go by Harris. However, after having identified so much with Hannah and her baby son, Samuel, I really wanted to name our son, Samuel. I started talking to Preston about it (mind you, this was still very early in the pregnancy and I didn't even have proof yet that we were having a boy). However, Preston was resolute, we would follow the tradition and not waver from it at all (I had suggested Preston Samuel). I was a little upset because I felt like God wanted me to name him Samuel, but I also knew I needed to submit to my husband's authority. So I prayed about it. God led me to look up the meanings of the name's "Samuel" and "Preston". Samuel means "asked of God" and Preston means "priest's estate". Do you see it?! The meaning of Samuel described our son, because we definitely asked God for him, and the meaning of Preston is what Samuel was!!! Samuel was given to the Lord and raised in the temple by the priest, he was the priest's estate!! How cool of God to do that for me and to lead me to discover it!

So Preston Harris Weed, IV was born in December of 2002. (note to future parents: don't ever say you don't ever want a child to be born at "such and such" time of year, because God has a sense of humor and will allow your first born to be born at that time. not that it matters now. we wouldn't have changed it for the world.) He was your average baby, not to difficult and not super easy, either. I was a nervous wreck about the reality of being a mom, though. But we made it through those early days and loved our little blessing will all our hearts.

Okay, here is where I start bragging a little. Harris loves to learn, and learns quickly. He always has. He also has amazing control over his emotions - when he chooses to use self-control. When he was just two years old, my mom accidentally knocked a small pillow off of a shelf in a department store and it hit Harris in the face. She could tell it startled him and thought for sure he would start to cry. His eyes welled up with tears, and his bottom lip went out, but he just looked at her and sucked his breath in like he was trying to keep from crying. Before he was 20 months old, Harris knew his ABC's by memory and recognized their shapes, and he could count to 10! By the time he was 3, he knew all the sounds the letters made. By 4 years old, he could count to 100 and sound out small words. Now that he is 5, he can read any of the "I Can Read" or "Easy Reader" books and he can read words off of signs, boxes, bottles, just about anything. If he can't sound out a word, he'll ask what it is and from that one time, he'll know it the next time he reads it. He will start Kindergarten at my alma mater, Shades Mountain Christian School, in August.

Harris prays at his 2 year-old birthday party.

Harris also knows the Lord as His personal Savior and Lord. I prayed all throughout my preganacy that he would come to know Jesus personally at the youngest possible age. Right before he turned 3, there were lots of programs and talk in general about the Christmas story, and one night we watched a local station, which aired a church's musical that told the whole story of Jesus's life on earth, from birth to ascension. Harris watched the entire thing with me and asked questions all throughout it. "Why is that baby in the hay?" Why is that man hanging on the cross?" Why are all those people shouting at Him?" How did He get out of that hole?" I was praying the whole time that God would give me the ability to explain it in such a way that his little mind would understand and that God would use it to convict him of his need for Jesus. After that program, he kept asking questions, and those questions eventually became, "Do I have sins in my heart?" "Does Jesus live in my heart?" "How can I get Him to?" I explained what sin was and why everyone has sin in their heart, and I explained how we pray to ask Jesus to come into our lives and wash away our sins. Finally, 2 days after he turned 3 years old, at bed time he prayed with me and accepted Jesus as His Savior! Praise the Lord!!

Harris and Amy Beth // Harris and David - Harris, 2; David - 3 mos.

Harris became a big brother when he was just 2o months old, and he is a great one most of the time. They love each other so much and play so well together. In the winter of 2006, he started telling me he wanted a baby sister. I told him he would need to pray and ask God for one. (I wanted another baby very much, but Preston wasn't so sure about it.) He prayed almost every night for a baby sister (not a brother, because he already had one of those). One day he told my mom, "I'm going to have a baby sister". Mom asked him when and he said, "I don't know, but she's coming." So, in May of 2007, we found out we were pregnant again. When we told Harris, he said, "My sister is coming!" We told him it could very well be a boy, but he was insistent that it was a girl. Sure enough, at the appointed time, the ultrasound confirmed what Harris seemed to have known all along, he was getting a sister! Since she has been born, he has been the sweetest, most loving big brother we could ask for. He is so careful with her, and is such a good helper with her. And she loves him, too. Whenever, he comes into her view, she gets a big grin on her face and starts kicking and waving her arms.

Harris is by no means a perfect child, but he is a blessing to us, and we are so thankful God entrusted him to us.

Harris' 4th birthday party! // Being silly is one of his favorite pasttimes!