Evan floors me at times.
He is an amazing kid. And I don't say it because I'm his mother; although I'm sure I'm not being entirely impartial here.
But this is for him more than anyone else.
There may come a day, hopefully later than sooner, that he may feel utterly discouraged. And hopefully, he might feel better, with this.
1. Evan is brave.
He had to go to the dentist to check that his new teeth weren't impacting his old too badly. They were fine but our dentist found that he had somehow managed to chip two molars that were side by side. I am convinced he was chewing rocks. Anyway, the chipped bits had to be filled in through a long process of artificially and manually separating the teeth with a metal contraption. Uncomfortable was an understatement and I could see him get stressed and tensed all the while trying not to struggle because Aunty B (our dentist) had told him not to. Eventually, it got the better of him, but we all saw how much he tried to deal with it and resist his immediate instinct of yanking out what must have an excruciating contraption. Auntie B was full of praise, as was Mommy.
2. Evan is considerate
At the end of the dental check-up, Auntie B whipped out a box of individually packed toys and told Evan that he could take one. After all, he had been so brave. But he didn't just take one. He asked to take 2 more. One for Muffin (a Kungfu Panda figurine) and one from the 'girl' box (which was actually in the drawer, so he had to ask for it) for Jordan.
3. Evan is intelligent
That is putting it simply. He actually has quite impressive powers of inference, deduction and all those wonderful critical skills I try to teach 17 year olds. He reads a lot and is curious about everything around him, always asking questions. We try and answer as many of his questions as humanly possible, as accurate as possible; resisting the temptation to make it up as we go along. We never really know how much goes in. Many weeks ago, we had a conversation with his doctor uncle about leeches and their uses. Today, at the hospital, he asks,
Evan: Where is the leech room?
Mommy: The what room?
Evan: The LEECH room? Leeches are used to clean people's blood by drinking it right? This is a hospital to make people better right? So where is it?
Mommy: We don't use leeches anymore.
Evan: We should. They are cool!
4. Evan is simple.
I lament a great deal about our finances. Much of it has got to do with worrying that I cannot provide what the children need. But on days like today where Evan is absolutely chuffed to be able to take the MRT more than 1 train stop (we sometimes do that just so that they get a train ride) and kneels on the seat and watches the tunnels whizz by, I know things will always be okay. And of all the toys that Aunty B offered him, what made his day the most was his name label for his case file. He proudly stuck it on his chest and went to school with it.
5. Evan is a helper.
He helps us. He is the one I can count on. If I tell him something, it will get done. And we only have to tell him once. It could be waking up his Papa or it could be making sure that something is packed for school. And he looks out for his siblings. He's not the most nurturing but when it comes to safety, he instinctively pulls his younger brother or his sister behind him. When Packrat went away last year for work and told Evan he was the man of the house, Evan took it seriously. Of course, he tried to abuse his power and lord over Mommy but he learnt very quickly that Mommy was still the Mommy Dowager even if he was Acting Man of the House.
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