Joseph's Summer of Growing Up, Part 3

Sometimes it is the little, subtle things that make you take notice of your kiddo and see them in a new light.  Take Joseph.  This summer, he has decided that sometimes he wants to dress himself in clothes that are not athletic wear or DriFit.  You know, shirts with collars and khaki shorts and reef flip flops. You know, the fancy stuff.  I also took him shopping for school clothes for kindergarten. He wanted jeans. Skinny jeans. He looked at least 3rd grade in them!

Joseph is trying to become Mr. Responsible too.  He clears his plate after dinner without being asked (and often clears the plates of other people too!). 

He speaks in more complex paragraphs.  He is full of clever one-liners.  For example, we have a needle for the hand pump so that the kids can blow up their basketballs when they are low on air.  I keep the needle in the garage, in its tiny cardboard package, hanging above a box of sticks we use to start fires in the winter.  I kept warning the kids not to drop the needle into the stick box.
Then Joseph told me "Mama, I dropped the needle in the stick box."  (This was also an out-of-context sentence that really confused Larry.)
I said "Jos, I told you guys over and over not to do that!"
He fired back immediately "Well, maybe you shouldn't have hung the needle over the stick box!"

I had no comeback for that.

Recently his sister had surgery that limited her walking and what she can eat.  He has been so kind and helpful, even though he has been jealous of all her new Lego sets and ice cream dinners. 
She has not wanted to be alone for a second either and when Larry and I told her she had to start getting brave enough to get over that, he looked deep into her eyes and sincerely told her "I will never leave you Jie Jie."