Toa of Boy

Every now and then, I look at the Jedi and say, "Remember, he's a very quiet little boy." And the Jedi chuckles, because Toa of Boy is not a quiet little boy. Oh, he was. He was a very quiet, introverted little boy. Several of the emails we received from his caretakers before the adoption told us how quiet he was and how he liked to play by himself. No problem, we said, Sweetling is the same way. We're a quiet family. He'll fit in perfectly. When we got to Guatemala, his caretakers stressed many times how quiet he was, so that we knew he wasn't a loud, boisterous kind of boy. Again we said, quiet fits in just fine.

And at first Toa of Boy was quiet. And then he got more comfortable and confident. And then he was quiet when we were out somewhere, and he was a bit louder and more boisterous at home. And then he got more confident still. And the quiet little boy was all gone. Now he goes tearing down the hallway at church yelling and laughing and chasing or being chased by his friends. I was standing and talking to a couple last week, and I looked over my shoulder to check on Toa of Boy (not to see if he was still there, cause I could easily *hear* that he was still there, but to see if the screaming was good screaming or bad screaming.) The screaming was good screaming as two little boys rolled around in a wrestling match in the middle of the hallway. The crowd just walked around them. I turned back to my conversation (which, by the way, was with the parents of the other wrestler.)

This week, I've noticed several things that have really struck me as particularly cute or memorable, and I wanted to jot them down.

On Sunday, I was in the kitchen. In the living room, the Jedi was watching the last round of the playoffs. Toa of Boy was watching with his Daddy. With no real understanding of the flow of the game, Toa of Boy cheered and yellled wildly whenever it looked like the crowd was yelling. Periodically, he would shout more specific cheers like, "Throw the ball! Throw the ball!" Once I heard him ask, "He dead, Daddy? Daddy, he's dead?" Every few minutes he would ask, "We won Daddy? Our team won?"

Toa of Boy has always loved to hide and be found. Every night, and I do mean every night, he "hides" under his blanket so that Daddy will have to "find" him for bedtime. Toa of Boy hides many, many, many times every day. "Come find me, Mommy. Mommy, come find me," will drift out of a closet or from behind a chair. During schooltime, he hides under his desk every chance he gets. If I turn to grab his math work book from the shelf, he's gone. "Now is a good time to hide," he will say, and then he runs away.

Toa of Boy is a constant source of noise and random remarks and sayings. It used to be that if he had to hold still and be quiet for more than two minutes in the car, he would be out like a light. Two of my favorite car ride comments this week went as follows. Pinkie and Sweetling were in the backseat of the van discussing all things Webkinz. Toa of Boy was buckled into the middle seat. Out of nowhere he starts cackling loudly. "Great," says Sweetling, "random evil laughter by my little brother. Okay." The other time was during the ride home from church last night. I don't even remember what the rest of the family were discussing, but in the middle of our conversation, Toa of Boy says, "I'm going to scream like a girl for three seconds. EEEEEK!" The Jedi was practically doubled over the steering wheel with laughter.

He plays Wii and watches TV while jumping on his trampoline. He builds awesome Lego creations, and is capable of following the most complex Bionicle diagrams to assemble his plastic warriors. He always asks Sweetling which of her Webkinz is having a "special day" so that he can grab one of his Webkinz of the same color or type. He got $50 for Christmas and is planning on saving his money till he has a hundred dollars and is rich. Or he's going to save up his money and buy Mommy new carpet. As soon as he knows I want something in Webkinz, he buys it and sends it to me. He flies through his morning and afternoon chore list without being asked, so that he can earn the most points and win the chance of picking the family activity on Saturday. He's favorite word recently is "doomed." Everything and everyone is doomed. Or "coconut". Everything and everyone is also "coconut".