a small talk about beans

(and, yes, his face looks like this 90% of the time even in public. for him cleanliness is next to impossibleness)

we had a little conference at school...nursery school...with beans teacher. she reported that he can count to 15, he knows his colors, and he can scribble with a purpose (sign of pre-writing i guess). so, i'm sitting there thinking while she's talking and i burst out..."whoa. he knows his colors? you mean he gets them right? all the time?" and she says, "yes, of course." and at that very moment i met beans for the first time. the real beans...not my baby. after a little more conversation i realized what i had suspected all along....that he's been holding out on me. when i ask him questions he often answers wrong. when i direct him towards an answer (in a teaching way) he will maintain a blank expression and answer wrong. i was beginning to wonder. his teacher looked at me and said, "he's going to be your mischievous one." and i know all you family members out there are collectively scratching your heads right now, and quickly re booking any future trips to our house.....suddenly sweet pea IS the choir boy and beans will be smiling at you and batting his eyelashes and giggling while he plots his next big move. in addition to knowing his colors and scribbling his heart out, his imagination is developing. the other night sweet pea went to bed early (again a collective gasp and worry that the the earth might stop spinning). beans, all on his own, built a castle out of pillows. he became a king in his own world. he showed me around and admonished me for not closing the door behind myself. he talked about his world for 45 minutes after story time and lights out. outside of his brother's shadow that baby of mine is positively blossoming into his own little individual self (on his terms).