I Couldn't Be More Proud

Exhibit A

My sweet, shy, softspoken, sensitive, easily-swayed, happy-to-be-the-follower son Noah surprised me twice in one day this week. He had a friend over to play for a while so at one point I decided it was okay to have them watch a short Veggie Tales movie. I was doing a few things in the other room when I heard the friend say, "We don't like God do we?" And without missing a beat Noah replied, "Yes, I like God."

I love it. Noah can sometimes too easily (it seems to me) just go with the flow, so it was awesome to hear him disagree and stand up for his beliefs. And, the best part is that I know he didn't just do it for my benefit. I was in the other room and he had no idea that I was able to hear. Love it!

Looking forward to accidentally (or not so accidentally) overhearing many more interesting conversations between my kids and their friends.

Exhibit B

One day Noah was playing with a friend and they were playing with some toys that would be considered stereotypically more for boys than for girls. But as they played Anna wanted to play to. She approached the boys and asked which toy she could play with and Noah's friend said, "None. These are for boys. Girls can't play with them!" I intervened and said, "Yes they can. Girls can play with any toys they want to." The friend said, "That's not what the computer says." To which Noah replied, "Here Anna. You can play with this one." Then he handed her a toy. And then before moving on to something else Noah added, "That just doesn't make sense for our family."

I love many things about his response. I love that he defended his sister and was doing what he could to include her. I love that he stood up for all girls and gave Anna a toy even when his friend wasn't into it. I love how he didn't judge his friend's statement he just said, "that doesn't make sense for our family." I love how he spoke for our whole family as a unit--a unit that hangs together. I love how he knew that restricting girls from certain toys or games or actions just doesn't make sense in our family's culture. I love you Noah. Thanks to you this day on behalf of all the girls you may one day stick up for. Keep it up, bud. It means more than you will ever know. We can stick up for ourselves, of course, but sometimes it's nice to know we have a brother, a father, a son, a friend, a husband, or a coworker in our corner too.