Monday, August 18, 2014

Jamie’s Day Out

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I fear that Jamie is more prone to “middle child syndrome” than many other second-of-three children might be; he’s quiet and introspective much of the time, which could lead to him being easily overlooked.  I call him my thinker, and as a thinker, he’ll often spend time alone, contemplating God-knows-what, playing with his cars, trucks, planes, and trains, or reading a book.  He doesn’t demand my attention in the same way Charles does, though he’s learning to do so a bit more (just this morning, he insisted on having a story while I was nursing Freddie), and he’s frequently railroaded in conversations that also include Charles.  Hell, in a conversation with Charles, none of us can get a word in edgewise.

 

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Planes are serious business.  (This is not an unhappy face – it is a “studying” face.)

 

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Smiling for the camera!

 

On Saturday, Charles was sick and did not get to accompany me, Jamie, Freddie, Uncle Leland, and Grandpa Roger to the Heritage Flight Museum “Props & Ponies” Mustang show.  I’ve seen a lot of Ford Mustangs in my life, and I’ve seen a very few P-51 Mustangs on the ground, but never before have I seen a P-51 Mustang fly.  There were three that flew during this event (as well as some other planes), and they were amazing.  The sound of those three engines overhead was astounding; my heart was in my throat during each of the several fly-bys.  I kept imagining how awesome it would have felt to see a whole squadron, or several squadrons, fly overhead.

 

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As Leland puts it, Jamie will be the gearhead of my family.  He loves machines and vehicles of all types and is never happier than when watching a race or a train or a plane.  He would have stayed at the show until the bitter end, but I had been carrying Freddie on my front the entire afternoon (four hours!), it was hot, and my feet hurt.  During the loooong walk back to the car, Jamie inhaled a giant rainbow sherbet waffle cone, so I’m guessing he wasn’t unaffected by the heat or the exhaustion of the afternoon.

 

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Because of his patience with learning about machines, Jamie will probably enjoy a more productive relationship with my dad than Charles will – not that there won’t be plenty of love to go around, but Jamie will more than likely be happy to spend hours with Grandpa in the shop, working on machines. 

 

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Charles, on the other hand, is more likely to enjoy the action and excitement of being a deckhand for his Grandpa Joe or Tony when he gets older.  When the boys were at the beach a week-and-a-half ago, Charles caught his first (and second, and third) salmon and talked of nothing else for nearly a week.

 

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It’s part of my job, I think, to help my children grow and blossom in the ways that suit them.  They’re still figuring out what they love, so we can use a shotgun approach to activities (air show, Sprint car races, roller skating, soccer, etc).  Honestly, I didn’t think we would make it four hours at the Mustang show, but now I know that if we want to spend an entire day next summer at the Arlington Fly-In, Jamie will not only be just fine, he will be as happy as a pig in shit.

 

It’s not easy with an infant in the house, but I hope to do more of these “dates” with my kids individually.  It’s so fulfilling to me to find something they love to do and do it with them.

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