John Paul James

My friend Maggie (http://patentsgirl.blogspot.com/) has this quote on her blog right now...

“It seems to me that if a little flower could speak, it would tell simply what God has done for it without trying to hide its blessings. It would not say, under the pretext of a false humility, it is not beautiful or without perfume. The flower about to tell her story rejoices at having to publish the totally gratuitous gifts of Jesus. She knows that nothing in herself was capable of attracting the divine glances, and His mercy alone brought about everything that is good in her.” (St. Thérèse of Lisieux)

I read that this morning and as lovely as it is and as much as I love St. Thérèse, it made me a little sad. It made me sad for my children because for some reason it is wrong to tout your own intelligence. It is wrong to tell people that your children are brilliant and that they are excelling in academia. Why do other people take it as an insult to their own children and their intelligence? It's not a comparison!

Now my feathers are ruffled. Here's the thing, this is MY blog and I will tell the world just how smart my children are because God has given them gifts and I want my sweeties to know it. I want them to use their gifts and not hide them. I want them to be able to do anything they want to and do it easily if possible.

John Paul knew the alphabet at the age of 16 months. He could not talk, he'd only been walking for 3 months, and I had no idea he knew his letters. But, he loved books. Before he could crawl he would roll across the floor to the stack of books that I had, grab one, and roll back to me. Never once did he rip a page or try to eat the cover. Books were, are, his thing. At Christmas time he was 16 months old and he received his first ABC puzzle. A few days later we were putting the puzzle together and I was talking as I did it. I would say things like, "We need to find the 'r', can you see it?" And he would pick it right up. He did this over and over and over. That was the first realization that he knew a lot more than he let on (he didn't talk until he was 2 1/2).

My little smarty is now 7 1/2 and in the 2nd grade. He is almost through his 5th grade math book and finds it incredibly boring. He can read anything and he is now learning the piano. He can learns new things very quickly and I can't wait to start him on the violin this fall.

Do you see why I am so proud of him? Hmmm, maybe you don't. You see, as smart as my little guy is and how happy that makes me, there's more to it.

John Paul is a very caring boy. He likes to sit and talk with me about anything, but I think he really likes being the oldest and having "grown up" talks. He is always willing to help me out and will readily hold a little sister or brother's hand when crossing a street.

He loves baseball and is learning how to play himself. It is so much fun to see him catch, throw, run the bases. My John Paul is a peanut (he's about 40 pounds and really very short) and sports don't always come naturally to him, but I think he's found his niche with baseball.

John Paul is quick with a smile and has an easy-going attitude that makes all things easier. Especially in a large family. He very sweetly shares all his treats and is the first one to say yes when a sibling asks.

And those books that he loves? Well, now he reads them to his siblings.

Now do you know why I am so proud of him? Oh, I'm very glad that he finds learning things so easy. But I am also proud of him for what he does with his gifts.

P.S. I have five more children to write about so I will give them each their own entry. Otherwise, this entry would go on and on and on and on and on and on...