Jacob the Brave

Jacob has of late been idolising Michael, which I'm sure is very normal for a 4 year old boy. It's really cute... any situation where I look like I might be having the slightest bit of difficulty he looks at me wisely and says in a solomn voice, "Don't worry Mum, Dad can do it."

Some of the things are obvious, like if I can't open a jar of Dolmio or move the lounge suite, but recently he said it when I was pondering over a strange symbol that had appeared on the the little display of our home phone.

Jacob saw me looking at the phone with a perplexed look and mumbling to myself and piped up with his catch cry, "Don't worry Mum, Dad will know." I thought, "Hmm... yeah right. I'm the techie around here!" But I said, "Yes Jacob, Dad is sure to know." Heh heh... which of course he didn't, but he put on a very knowing look, and said, "Err, yes, of course Dad will know won't he Jacob... it means there's a message waiting for us."

Jacob has also been classifying absolutely everything lately into "boyish" or "girlish". He found a Toyworld catalogue on the kitchen bench last week that had come in with the junk mail, and I came across him lying on the floor pouring over every page, saying, "Girlish... these are all girlish" and then another page, "Boyish, yes these are for boys." I mentioned to him that all toys are not necessarily for boys or girls and that lots of toys can be enjoyed by everyone. He looked at me for a second, and then pointed to the next thing on the page and said, "See that bike Mum? It's pink... it's for girls." Hmm, yes, good point. It was a ridiculously pink, sparkly, girly bike.

Riding the motorbike however, is "boyish" especially when you go very fast!


Yep, this wood saw he got for his birthday is "boyish" (if accompanied by suitably blokey expression).


Saucepans and other kitchen utensils (my knife sharpener) can be "boyish" when used in the right manner:


Anyway, in the midst of all this latest behaviour, Jacob has been begging me every day for a month to take him to the doctor to get his 4 year old immunisations. I don't know why he wanted to have them so much, I thought maybe just for the lolly incentive he would get afterwards, but whatever the reason, he wasn't going to give in pestering me until he had his needles. He assured me he would be very brave, definitely braver than Ben and Charlotte, who both cried for their 4 year old needles, and so I finally booked an appointment to go and have them done.

He came into the doctor's office and stripped off his jacket and then the nurse asked if he would like to sit on Mum's lap or on a chair by himself... he ran straight to the chair and offered his arm to the nurse. He was watching her get it all ready and she told him not to watch while she gave it to him, so he looked away reluctantly.

He didn't flinch at all for the needle, and then just sat there calmly for the other one.

She said, "There you go, all done. Did that hurt?"

"No."

"Did you even feel it?"

"No."

"Well, for being so good you can have 3 stickers."

The nurse handed him three stickers and he looked at them intently for a few seconds. He handed me the one with teddies and pink love hearts and said, "I'll give this one to Charlotte" and then also handed me the one with a rainbow smiley face, "I'll give this one to Oliver." The one he kept was an ugly monster with a shield that said, "I'm wise, I've been immunised!" It was pretty funny.

Then we went to the shop on the way home to choose a lolly as all our kids get to do when they have immunisations. He chose a Kinder Surprise, because they are so exciting and he really wanted the fun toy inside.

He carried it carefully on his lap all the way home to open it in peace and savour the moment when he got home... and this is what the brave, tough, hero got inside his Kinder Surprise:


P.S. If anyone has a "boyish" kinder toy that they would like to exchange for this lovely fairy princess you know where to contact us... heh heh