A Christmas Message from James

December 23, 2008

I'm a big believer in allowing kids the freedom to make their own decisions.

Don't count me as crazy here--James doesn't determine his own bedtime, or whether or not we make it to church on Sunday--I let him choose the inconsequential things like birthday cards, and light-up boots, and the flavor of his yogurt.

And that my friends, is precisely why his best friend Sophia recieved a nice array of decorative-faux-fruit for her second birthday. It's also why my kid has quite the fluffy hair-do. What can I say? The child likes his hair when it's high. Why fight it?

I even let James chose the color of his bedroom--which, I should add, was no easy feat. Every time we'd talk about the project, he'd insist that I paint his room 'triangle.' I was like, "Dude. What? Triangle?"

And he'd flattly reply, "Triangle."

Finally, at the suggesstion of my sister, I drove to the hardware store, grabbed a few paint chips that I deemed acceptable and brought them home to James.

"Show me triangle, buddy."

Turns out that it's a happy shade of bright light blue.

Last night James and I sat down to fill out a Christmas card for his teacher. I selected the card on my own, and since it didn't feature a photo of a kitten tangled in a ball of yarn or a cartoon drawing of a naked butt (images that James is typically drawn to), it simply begged for some three-year-old spice.

"James," I said, "We need to write a message to Miss Nancy. You tell me what to write, and I'll put in this Christmas card."

He looked confused.

"We'll write a message to Miss Nancy in this card, and she'll read it and feel happy," I continued.

He still looked confused.

I decided to go at it from a different angle..."What do you want the message to say, Buddy?"

"Nancy," he said, thoughfully scrunching his nose and eyes while looking off to the left. "This is a message," he continued.

"From me, James."

Well okay then. Thank you Captian Literal.

8 comments:

Ian said...

Awesome.

Amy,

This is a comment,

from me, Ian.

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

I decided to go at it from a different angle

I think the verb you're looking for here (and maybe you could have used James' help in this case) is "triangulate".

That whole triangle-is-a-color thing would have lesser bloggers/commenters telling you to worry about James and his abilty to grasp concepts.

But not me. I think it shows that your son is a Dadaist.

Now, take it from me, you should be VERY WORRIED that your son is a Dadaist! And if he asks you to paint his room trapazoid, DON'T DO IT!!1! It involves full-frontal nudity!!1!

Merry Christmas!

Anonymous said...

HAHAHA. Love it, can he help me with my Christmas Cards next year?

Anonymous said...

Here are some holiday good wishes.

To the Lawsons.

Including James. And his mom. And also his dad.

From Loose Moose.

PS - My favorite color happens to be a light, dusty rhombus.

Mel said...

My favorite color is fuzzy so I completely understand what James was trying to say!
Merry Christmas
-Mel

Harshes said...

Very Cute

Sarah said...

I think I need a triangle room and a message. You're lucky you have both!

Midwest said...

This reminds me of a conversation I recently had with my son Jack.

Me: Thank you, Captain Literal.
Jack: I'm not Captain Literal. I'm Jack.
Me: I rest my case.