Personhood

At some point Gideon became a real person. He has a sense of humor now. He's developing empathy. If he bumps me and I say "Ow." he tells me he's sorry. (I find that really cute.) He's learning like crazy. He cracked me up today when we were watching TIVOed Saturday Night Live. Marc and I were laughing at the jokes along with the audience and he laughed right along with us. Somehow I guess he just knew or felt that if people were laughing the right thing to do was laugh with them.

This has made me more sensitive to his education. Last week I took him to craft time at the local library and we made Halloween bats and sock puppets. I realized that I don't do enough of those kinds of things with him. So Friday I went to Ben Franklin and got materials for more Halloween crafts. We decorated foam pumpkins and ghosts and made Halloween paper chains. I let Gideon practice with the safety scisssors. (The kid could cut a straight line. I was impressed.)

I want to put him in some more activities. I wish I was dedicated enough to plan educational opportunities for him all the time, but left to my own devices I will only too happily plop down in front of the computer and let my kid zombie out to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on repeat. And there have to be better ways for him to spend his time.

I also browsed around today at private schools online. I don't know if we'll send him to private or public schools, but it's neat to see the different schools philosophies and programs.