He is always thinking

A slightly scary thing happened a few moments ago. Eb came down the stairs to say he had "found" his Dad's striker (fire lighter) in our bedroom. Husband thought he had put this dangerous item away in a safe place, so it was disconcerting to find out that Eb knew exactly where to find it.

He had been in the bathroom and seen the unlit candles, and his brain wandered into the possibility of lighting those candles, and what he needed to use to achieve this. He didn't think much about whether he should be doing it, and if it was safe. He just wanted to do it. This is Eb in a nutshell. He thinks, and at the same time, he really doesn't think.


I had a chat with him about why it was a bad idea, and led him back to his bedroom and attempted to tuck him in. This was quite tricky.

He has about 10 dinosaur books in his bed, as well as several model dinos and a thick book about inventions. He didn't want to move any thing in case he suddenly needed it. As we navigated this carefully constructed mess, he asked me if I was aware of the intelligence levels of Raptors.

I asked him how he slept like this, with so much mess and stuff in his bed, and he replied that he sleeps better when he knows that the things he may want are near him. (He has shelves - three of them right by his bed and they are chock full of books, models, shoe boxes and many, many mysteries.)

Some times I would like to get a day pass into his brain. He has a long list of things he *needs* to know, and some amazing thoughts. If his mind was a real living place, I imagine it to be a mix of a natural history museum, with lots of explosions, monsters and colours - mostly red. He adores red - it attracts him in all shapes and guises, especially underwear.



Eb cannot lie. He tries hard but he is terrible at it. My other children can be pretty good at it - a slight fib trips off the tongue quite easily, but Eb cannot even lie about the small things. You can ask him "Did you eat the last biscuit?" and he will say no and then his face will screw up instantly and he will blurt "Yes I did, it was me, sorry about that." All said in a rush of relief.

He is sweet and sensitive and quiet and occasionally inappropriate and intense and busy.

When he left school 18 months ago; he was convinced that he could not draw. It broke my heart to see that my sweet boy couldn't bring himself to pick up a pencil, because the resulting sketch would not be good enough to him. It took months for him to grow confidence in this area, and there were some tears in the process, but now he has a sketch folder to keep his special drawings in, and it is overflowing with detailed, intricate diagrams of dragons, space ships, dinosaurs, a spectacular group of Goodies that all have unique secret special powers (I could tell you but I'd have to kill you.)

I want to keep him thinking, keep him processing these ideas, watch them flourish and grow with him. He naturally asks "Why?" about every thing, and it is not unusual for him to come down stairs in the morning to tell me that he needs a syringe, some water and some measuring cups for an experiment he has dreamt. He will then spend two or three hours doing the experiment and scribbling down his findings.

I love my boy, and am intrigued by his thinking and where it will lead.

To Great Things, I am sure.