TTT - Like a Snake!

David, being four years old, is at that wonderful age of expressing himself so freely that I'm consistently provided with plenty of Tiny Talk Tuesday fodder! Here are some things I jotted down from this past week...

One evening we were playing outside; and as I was pushing him on the swing, he suddenly burst forth into jubilant singing. The lyrics of his homemade song were...ummm...inspiring? He sang joyfully, "Oh, I wish I could scratch my back!" :) Well, my boy, it's a good thing you're just wishing that and not doing it, because if you were, you would probably fall off the swing. David's frequent musical outbursts often remind me of something that one of my music professors, Dr. Landis, used to say: if you don't spontaneously have a song in your mind at least once a day, you shouldn't even think about studying music or trying to make a career of it. With David's regular pattern of making music--whether composing his own little ditties, singing something he's learned, or simply humming a tune he's heard before--I'd say he could meet that qualification of being a musician quite easily!

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Over supper one evening, David was trying to get Jeff to guess the name of a new friend David had met that day. He said, "Guess what his name is! You have 10 guesses." So Jeff started saying various names; but before he had even gotten to 10, David wanted to give him a hint so he helpfully said, "It starts with..." But then he stopped, because he wasn't sure what the first letter of the name really was. Suddenly he blurted out, "What does Kevin start with?" Fortunately David wasn't offended when we all burst out laughing at how he had given his secret away, and he even joined heartily in the merriment. He likes to make us laugh, he does!

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On Sunday evening, Jeff killed a snake in our yard. That's a whole other story, and I hope to post about that someday soon...but I do want to record here that David, being the brave adventurer that he is, wanted to touch it. He must get that part of his nature from his daddy because the very thought of touching a snake makes my heart rate escalate--and not in a good way. Anyway, after he touched it, I asked him what it felt like, wondering what kind of a descriptor he would use for it. With an enormous amount of excitement reflected in his eyes and his voice, David exclaimed, "Pretty much like a snake!" Profound, my boy; that's profound. :)

Here's the fearless boy, actually holding the snake by the tail--holding half of the snake, that is, because Jeff chopped it in two in the process of killing it. At this point, the body of the snake was still wiggling around like they do after they're dead; it didn't freak David out too much though. Josiah, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with touching that creepy thing. See how he's in the background, armed and dangerous with a hoe, ready to attack the vile creature again if it should suddenly come back to life? He's a boy after my own heart. Jeff struck the snake three times, convincingly killing it--it was in two pieces, after all. I would have struck it at least 50 times--and more, if it needed it. :)

Check out Mary at Not Before 7 for more Tiny Talk Tuesday.