Signs of Change

Oh those pine needles.  Why does the wind always blow into my yard and with it come the millions of pine needles.  My entire front yard is brown with them.  UGH!!!

Other than that there are other signs of change in our house.  Nothing major, just that little click.  We were talking after dinner last night and nathan started talking about one of the boy's in his class, Ben.  He said "Ben is always talking to him in the cafeteria really loudly and sometimes he just makes up funny words and says the really loudly."  We told him to either try not sitting next to Ben or when he does get loud to tell him you don't like it.  If he continues to be loud, just ignore him and talk to the other kids that he's sitting by.  Then he said "sometimes that makes him nervous". We said "why does it make you nervous?"  He said, "because sometimes Mrs. G's class if the loudest table at lunch because Ben is so loud and that's bad."  We told him again that if Ben's loud maybe he and other kids at the table could ask Ben to be quieter.  What really struck me about this exchange was the emotional maturity that he's showing.  Nathan has tended to be oblivious to things going on around him.  In the past, he's not one to get overly upset if he gets reprimanded.  That he would notice that Ben is being loud and that that is causing the whole table to get in trouble is new for him.  And then to tell us that he gets nervous about getting in trouble is another new thing.  Like I said, it's not a big change, just a little shift.  Just a little indication that my boy is growing up and starting to become aware of what's expected of him and what it takes to be a "good" boy.