on vocabulary, boys, the gardenia fairy, and pride...

This morning I woke up to my five year old boy on top of me, pretending to be the Gardenia Fairy, having flown to my side on a rocket. Yup. He demanded that I be a fairy also,and when we'd filled the entire bedroom with flowers, I created a hole in the middle of the ceiling, so that sun could shine in. He looked up and said "I'm creating gardenias that are floating above the hole. They are gleaming in the sun." Five. The other day he came up with the word "mischievous," and he's come up with some other doozies as well. I'm *very* proud of him. The funny thing is that I'm a bit surprised by it. Why? I blush to say it. Because he's a boy and I have learned that boys aren't "as verbal" as girls. Pretty dumb of me. After all, *I* love words (can you tell?) and I've been here the whole time. If he has trouble sleeping at night, I read him poetry and occasionally I hear a plaintive "mommy, I really want some poetry tonight." We play with words and we certainly talk a lot . It should be very interesting to see what this little one turns into. He was at the park the other day and picked up a squirtgun that was (in poor taste) left at the park. He played "gun" with it a bit, but was basically using it as a drill, to repair the rocket he was working on. It's nice to be proud of your kids. Funny how often it happens, isn't it?