The Patriot

Sam was most impressed with the Fourth of July. It was, I think, a highlight of the summer for him. We didn't do anything particularly spectacular--a swim party, a cookout, and watching fireworks at the house with sparklers at the end with the usual suspects...a group that ends up totaling 12 or 13 kids, a few dogs, a grandmother and various parents.

All day, Sam would ask randomly, "Is it Fourth of July?" The concept of time is still a bit vague...don't even ask him what day it is and time of day? He refers to his invisible watch and choses alternately between 10 o'clock and 4 o'clock at any time that he needs to know a time... but anyway. When it was affirmed that it was still the Fourth of July, he would gleefully clap or give a cheer and then go on about his business--which, I am happy to say included jumping into the pool on his own and going under over and over while wearing his vest. Huge step for Mr. I Hate to Get My Face Wet.

Turns out, he really didn't care diddly about any one aspect of the Fourth--he certainly wasn't overcome with patriotic fervor. He was rather partial to the unfettered access to marshmallows and the finale of birthday cake and the fact that he was able to also snag to minicupcakes...he ended up managing to miss the actual "meal" part of the day and only ate some macaroni and cheese for dinner as an afterthought. I thought maybe the fireworks were what he was excited about, but when it came time to watch, he was totally bored and saw about one explosion and was done with that. He did enjoy the sparklers and the snap-pops, and that was definitely a "biggie" for him, but I think that he was just excited about the idea that it was an important day and he knew that it was an important day and a cause for excitement and he was excited to be a part of that somehow.

Today he asked me what "today is". I told him July 5th. He was visibly excited--"that means that there's fireworks and a party again tonight, right?" When I told him no, it meant that we're cleaning the house and going to the dump, he frowned and said, "I thnk I like holidays better. When is it the Fourth of July again?"