Numbers and the wisdom of an almost five year old

I am home with a sick little one. She doesn't seem as sick as Jackson was. She did have a fever yesterday afternoon, so I didn't want to send her to Miss Linda's today. Hopefully she will be fine today and she can go tomorrow. I will try to enjoy one more day off.
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Sunday, before Addison felt sick, she and Jackson and I were coloring. Jackson usually doesn't like to color or write, so it is rare that he will do this with us. I have tried, in vain, to teach him his letters and how to write his name. I have bought books and flash cards and have tried to make it fun. He is just not that interested. I noticed that he was writing very intently in a spiral notebook. He stopped and looked at me and said, "Look at my letter two." (I am still trying to teach him the difference between numbers and letters. He calls letters and numbers letters. Any help from my kindergarten teacher friends would be much appreciated! There is a reason I teach PE!) Anyway, he had written a perfectly legible number two.

"Wow!" Then he went back to writing.

"Look at my one and two."

"Good job, Jack. That's the number twelve."

"I can make a five, too." He proceeds to write a perfect number five. (I have to say that five has been his favorite number for a couple of months. He will be five on his next birthday and knows that so many fun things happen when you turn five~like going to school. He also thinks that he will lose a tooth as soon as he is five. This little tidbit of information has come from his big brother. Jack will be very disappointed if on May 1st he doesn't lose a tooth.)

"That's a great five."

"I can make a seven." He makes a seven. "Are you proud of me because I am so smart!"

"I am so proud of you, Jackson. You are smart and sweet and a great little brother and wonderful big brother. And you make great numbers."

"They're letters, Mom."

We still have some work to do, but he will get there!

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I just had to add a story from our bathtime tonight.

It is not secret that I LOVE babies. I loved being pregnant. I would have baby after baby if they weren't so expensive. Every once in a while I will say I want another one. (This will never happen, of course, because we fixed that right after Addison was born!) I guess this urge to have another one never goes away. (It doesn't help the situation when I stay home and watch all the Baby Stories and Birth Days on tv.) Anyway, we have been talking to the boys about not being selfish and always thinking of others. Tonight I said again that I want just one more little baby. I said to Jackson that maybe we should pray to God and ask him for another baby. Jackson looked right at me with all his almost five year old wisdom and said, "It's not good to be selfinish, Mom."

He is listening, he really is listening!