After I have read stories, sung songs, and tucked into bed my two little guys, my seven-year old says, “You know what’s wierd?” We are hugging goodnight, and once again, he has made up another ritual for bedtime, prolonging the inevitable of sleep. He reminds me of his older brother, who, when he was 10 or 11 years old, would start every single sentence with one of three options: “Liesl, you know what’s weird?” “Liesl, you know what’s funny?” or “Liesl, you know what’s cool?”

Returning the hug, and getting one last snuggle in, I whisper, “What’s weird, honey?” Ben tells me that at school, when he’s doing his word search, if he turns the paper over and looks at all the letters backwards, and if he finds a letter Q, it looks like a Tomato. I kiss him, and acknowledge that I can totally see that in my mind.

What a delightful bunch of nutcases are my boys! Always finding the weird, funny or cool things to talk about, along with the gross, loud or smelly things to discuss.

We have been doing circle time as a family at the dinner table, where TreeGuy Dad will come up with a topic and we each get turns to share our thoughts on the subject. We are learning conversational skills and how to listen. Tonight, Ben came up with his own point to ponder – he wanted us to talk about looking at the bright side of things. I believe that my boys are becoming wonderful men who can see the bright side, unique side, even beautiful side of life. They search for wildflowers to bring me, or interesting rocks. They notice the sunrises and sunsets.

They know I have a poet’s heart, and find ways to say things that make me cry.

That my son can look at a letter and see a simile or metaphor growing there – and something so ripe, plump and juicy as a tomato inside a letter Q fills me with joy!