The BigHearted Boy

When we met JR, the orphanage director described this 11 month old baby as "kind." At the time I remember thinking that was a strange adjective to bestow upon an infant. How did they know?

Whether he exhibited kindness as an infant or whether the orphanage director's words had predictive power, they were prescient. JR is indeed a kind, big hearted, generous sort. We see it all the time.

Two anecdotes of kindness:

JR recently acquired a simple foam puzzle of a skeleton with the bones labelled. He mastered it immediately. Around the same time, his preschool class was studying the body. JR decided that he not only wanted to take the puzzle to school, he wanted to GIVE the puzzle to school. So Monday morning, he took it in and presented it to his teachers. They were thrilled. They were particularly pleased because the plan for Monday was to have the children glue bones onto their body maps (life size outlines of their bodies). The skeleton puzzle would be the perfect display for the class, a reference point for their artwork.

JR has been invited to the joint birthday party of two sibling friends, L & J. Unfortunately, their birthday party is the same weekend that our family is taking a mini-vacation to the "mountains."
This morning, JR said to me, "Mom, L & J's birthday is coming."
I replied, "I know, honey, but remember that I told you we were going to the mountains that day."
"I know Mom, that's okay. I just wanted to tell you that maybe when we're in the mountains we could look for a princess for L and a Star Wars toy for J."
"Oh, and Mom....?"
"Yes...."
"Do you think the mountains will have a store with a bone with a ribbon, so we could get a present for L&J's new puppy, too?"

Our big hearted boy.