My little nerdling.

What I am about to say, I say with absolutely no derogatory intent or malice towards my own kid. It actually makes me kind of happy. Proud, even. Now that J is in school, TH and I have come to the realization that J might be...well...a nerd. Not in the Revenge of the Nerds, Pointdexter, pocket-protector and mouth-breathing sense. More in the "I'm smart and inquisitive and there is absolutely nothing I love more than reading and watching nature shows and going to school and if I'm not going to school, talking about going to school" kind of way.

Like me.

Remember I told you that J is a full-fledged reader now? Well, he has taken it to whole new levels. He goes to bed with books. Long books. And when I say "goes to bed" I don't mean we read a bedtime story and then he goes to sleep, I mean he begs and pleads to keep books in his bed for reading after lights out "if I wake up and I want to read something." He hides books under his pillow and down between the mattress and the wall, and I've caught him crouched by his window at night trying to take advantage of the sun being up until almost 9pm. The best part is that now he's taken to reading Jr. a "baby story" (one of his old board books) at bedtime, which is very cute and brotherly--once they're both in pj's they sit on the floor or in the rocking chair and J reads to him, mimicking all the inflections and voices TH and I used to use when we read J the same stories. I need to get it on video one of these days. We haven't really started chapter books yet but this weekend we're going to the library to see what we can find.

At school, the teacher told us that he is her "reading helper." He kept insisting on taking his own books to school even though they have plenty to read there, to the point where the teacher asked him one day to read the book to the whole class -- which he did. And apparently he does this every day. He sits in front of the class, with the other kids in a circle around him, and reads them a story. This amazes me on so many levels. I'm pretty outgoing now, but when I was a kid I was VERY shy and the thought of getting up and reading a book in front of the class would have been mortifying.

J loves school so much that on my days home with him, his favorite game to play is "School." I have to be the teacher, and he basically leads me through a typical school day: "Now it's time for Outdoor Play! Now we line up (lining up with, well, himself) to come back inside for Art Time. Now we eat a snack and then we have Dramatic Play." (I love the preschool with all their titles for every activity). We even make a lunch in the morning and put his lunchbox in the fridge. AND HE EATS IT. Whenever I have to pay attention to Jr. I tell J that I'm going into "the infant classroom" and while we're playing School J accepts that without argument. I'm telling you, this kid loves school. I asked him the other day what he wants to be when he grows up and he told me that he didn't know, "I just want to go to school all the time." He actually does a little dance when he looks at his calendar and sees that it's a school day. (Side note: J now has a big calendar on his bedroom door, the kind that teachers use on their bulletin boards. I bought it at the dollar store in the teacher supply section, along with little stick-ons for activities, the weather, etc. It's turned out to be so helpful when we're getting things ready the night before, he loves to look at the calendar and see if the next day is school or daycare or home or church, and when he has soccer practice, and what kind of clothes he should pick out. We even put special events on it like "Pizza for dinner" or "Go to the mall to buy shoes." As it turns out, J has another nerd quality like me - a love of organization and lists.)

I know J is not really a "nerd." He also loves to play outside and run and jump and kick things. I get the feeling that once he discovers things like chemistry sets and spelling bees and math competition, though, his true nerd tendencies are going to shine. Oh well, I'm a huge nerd and it's worked for me so far...