A Boy's Dream Come True

Paul has recently been the recipient of a couple of awesome boy gifts, both of which were unused by their previous owners. One of those gifts was a sword. I guess the man who gave it to Paul didn't have a whole lot of use for it--wonder why. Paul straps the sword to his belt every morning and wears it all day long. He's done this ever since he got it three weeks ago. The only times the sword comes off are for church, piano lessons and bedtime and that's only because Mom and Dad say so. The sword is so old that it's no longer sharp, although I have instituted a "don't run your hand along the blade rule" anyway. Something about seeing a kid's hand go up and down a sword blade sends shivers down my spine--don't know why.
Matt and I gave Paul a set of Cd's for Christmas in which a homeschool dad, Rick Boyer, reads the book "True Stories of Great Americans for Young Americans." The book describes the lives of people like Robert E. Lee, George Washington, Ben Franklin and others. Paul has been listening to the Cd's and has been inspired by some of what he has heard.

This past weekend, Paul received and Erector Set. These pieces of metal and screws are like Legos to the tenth power--right up Paul's alley. Upon receiving the set, Paul immediately began working on his invention. He worked for two straight days on his project, only (reluctantly) taking breaks for chores, piano practice, school work, meals and sleep. Paul's completed work is a boat he modeled after Ben Franklin's boat which was described in the "True Stories" book. Franklin's boat had a hand operated turn wheel which powered it instead of the usual oars.
Paul's boat, which he dubbed "The Tad Pole," has an electric powered turn wheel. He covered the metal skeleton with card board and he put his little Teddy bear in the boat to navigate it. Every time I have Paul read to me or do another page of phonics, he literally throws down the book after completing the assigned material, so that he can get back to his beloved Tad Pole. Obviously, if the boat is made of cardboard, it's not seaworthy, but Paul has thoroughly enjoyed pretending that his boat is indispensable to the US military. Maybe someday our little boy will invent something indispensable to the military. In the mean time, he's just our little boy with a great imagination and the determination and perseverance to bring his ideas into reality.