Understanding Edmund

I took Peter, 6, and Edmund, almost 4, to the library after dinner tonight for a lecture about reptiles and amphibians. During the slide presentation, I kept thiniking of a book I recently checked out – and never finished – The Minds of Boys by Michael Gurian and Kathy Stevens. Who can understand the mind of an energentic 3 year-old-boy? Certainly not me. Energetic is putting it mildly. Hyper is more accurate. Edmund refused to sit still, squirmed constantly on my lap, while I had him in a tight grip. I was afraid to let him go, lest he be running about room. Doc and I call it “Teletubbie mode.” (Remember when those goofy creatures bounced off everything. That’s our Edmund.)

Peter had his moments when he was that age, I remember. But tonight he was a mother’s dream child. Sitting so attentively in the chair, hand shooting up to answer questions. Maybe the next time I’m in the library I’ll get The Minds of Boys out again. I should also re-read Dr. James Dobson’s Bringing Up Boys. He had a lot of good encouragement for raising boys in his book.

So no more library lectures for Edmund until he is seven. Hopefully by then what Gurian and Stevens call “boy energy” will be tamed. If it’s not I may have to feed him to the first large reptitle to come along.