Thursday, May 7, 2009

oh Donovan (*wryly shake head*)

After posting about how gross Donovan is, I began to feel remorseful. Not for saying he's gross (he is), but because he can also be very sweet.

Like over the weekend he had a soccer game (the only thing that would make 4-year-old soccer more adorable is if they made them wear helmets - don't think I'm not petitioning for that. helmets make everything funnier) and while he was tearing down the field, two boys from the other team clobbered him, one on each side. As he rose from eating grass, his eyebrows were knit together and his face conveyed his distress. The coach subbed him out and as he walked off the field, you could see he was holding it together...until he saw me. And he walked over and buried his head in my lap and sobbed. Nothing squeezes your heart more than seeing your kid trying to put on a brave face until they get to their mom and then collapsing into your arms. Plus, I think he was acutely aware of our general family rule about soccer (actually there are two): no hands, and no crying. We're not heartless parents - we make exceptions. I *did* comfort my son, lest you think I cast him off.

Then, yesterday, as I picked him up from school, I was in the car and the teacher came over and we were chatting. Donovan, standing behind me, starts stroking my hair, and then tucking it behind my ear, and then gently kisses my cheek. And then my forehead. And then my nose. And then my eyebrow. And my chin. It may have been his quiet way of telling me it was time to go, but it was very sweet. If he had asked me for ice cream for lunch, I would have given in.

But then I take him to Chick-Fil-A wednesday and I get out of the car, singing some nonsense song (naturally), and as I begin unbuckling Gemma I stop mid-refrain as my eyes begin to water. "Oh Donovan! You tooted! That's disgusting!" He casually shrugged and said, "I wanted you to stop singing so that's why I tooted. And you stopped." That is the most bizarre approach. But then, kissing me to get me to stop talking to someone isn't his general modus operandi, either.

He's weird. And he's gross. But he's also pretty fantastic.

1 comments:

NancyO said...

A gassy, but tender-hearted, boy.