The boy...

Jesse is 6 1/2 years old this summer and really starting to show his personality. He has a sneaky sense of humor, sensitive spirit, kind heart, and boy, is he a thinker? This man-child surprises us all the time with the things he says. Some of them make sense only in his universe, but we can usually tell the path his brain has taken to arrive upon his theories and the questions he asks us. He is a snuggler and I am pretty sure his strongest love language is personal touch.  It is hard for me to believe he will outgrow me sometime in the not-so-distant future. He isn't too cool for me yet, and I am not looking forward to the day he is. However, we have noticed that during a soccer game, the more we yell, the less he moves.  We have to use reverse psychology in sports right now, I guess. Although, in baseball he isn't that way. Maybe soccer just isn't his sport. When he runs fast, his facial expressions crack us up. He is serious about speed. His coordination is still a little underdeveloped, but that will come. James is co-coaching his baseball team this summer and having a lot of fun doing it.

I love this profile picture of him, because it shows how much he favors Janell. Head-on, he is a dead-ringer for my brother at that age, but from the side and when he makes certain faces, he looks just like his aunt. I am even starting to see his dad in him too, and that is cool.

Psychologists tell us that there are two pivotal relationships in child development. The father-daughter relationship and the mother-son relationship. The dynamics and quality of these relationships define a child's character and predict their future relationship skills and habits. There are certain behavior patterns and personality types that can almost always be traced back to a dysfunctional relationship with that pivotal parent. We have seen the impact in our own lives and in the lives of others, so we try to take it very seriously in our family. I can tell that my words have so much more power over Jesse than the girls, and I have to be intentional about choosing them with care. I mess up a lot, and I can see it in his eyes when I do. I pray for God's grace over those moments and that He would just super-naturally erase my words from Jesse's memory if they are going to crush his spirit. I love that boy so much!
{Taylor Swift's song Never Grow Up floating through my mind...}