Saturday, September 10, 2011

Up

Big Kid started the Harry Potter series at the beginning of summer. Long after I had told him to get in bed last night, allowing 10 minutes for reading before sleep, he appeared in my doorway with a sad, sweet little smile.

"What are you doing, bud?" I asked.

"Did you finish your book already?" Mr. Ashley guessed. Big Kid nodded, still smiling.

"You finished the last book?? Was it good?" He nodded again, smiling big but with watery eyes.

"What is wrong?" Mr. Ashley asked, confused at the mixed up emotions.

"Are you sad because it's over?" I knew because I do this too, with shorter books than the Harry Potter series. I mourn the loss of imaginary characters and their temporary involvement with my life.

He nodded again. "It was just so good. It went by so quickly and now I'm done with Harry and his friends forever..." his voice cracked and his face creased again as he finished explaining, his little shoulders slumped. I promised we'd take him to the book store for Narnia or Lord of the Rings or another series the very next day. He went to bed happy about his accomplishment and sad that he had accomplished it.

I love that boy of mine! (Both boys, of course, but this post is only about the one.) He is my mini-me.

We watched Up last night for the 50th time and both cried...again. Multiple times throughout the movie. He's decided to be Mr. Frederickson for Halloween and I haven't been this excited about a Halloween costume since they've been able to choose their own.

(little kid is going to be a ninja...sigh).

10 comments:

Julie H said...

That's just amazing! Quite the little genius you have there.

Alissa said...

This is why I have read the books a million times! My dream vacation is to go to the Wizarding World of HP in Orlando. Have you heard about Pottermore? It is JK Rowling's new project. I think BK will love it. It is a website and it opens in October. By completing tasks you will be able to unlock new material from her. (Additional details, background stories, etc...but not a continuation of the story kwim?)

Demetrius' mommy. said...

Well gosh darn I've been following for while and have yet to comment ,
My apologies.. I do suck! I am pretty
Lazy ha ha.
Just wanted to tell you I LOVE big kid.. Is that weird ? Every time I read about him , I just hope that
My son ends up just a little bit like him.. he's just so sweet to you , his
Little brother and even about books
.. It just reminds me of a veterinarian my sister worked with
EVERYTIME he lost an animal he cried
And was not afraid to do so in front
Of anybody .. He was just sad and wanted to express it.. I love people
Like that , I wish everyone I knew
Was a little more like that.. Totally random I'm sorry I just think its awesome your son is sensitive but
In an awesome way.. :)

Demetrius' mommy. said...

..May I ask what his astrological sign is? Random I know

AlexisMorgan said...

So sweet. I posted a few months ago when you were talking about his being so gifted and his love of reading. I need to tell you that my gifted 21 year old rereads Harry Potter every summer when he is home from college. Tell Big Kid it's OK to be sad, but to read them again and again because he will always find something special in the story. I love our sons and the love of reading they get from us. Enjoy every minute Ashley!

Amanda said...

I do the same thing with books. I am sad to see them end.

We will def. have to get Big Kid and my "K" together they could be the couple that saves the world from Little Kid and my "A" ....who will try to destroy the world.

Costumes. I will have a butterfly, some kind of scary monster, and I think a goth chick. lol

Renee said...

:) John read the HP series this summer too - and was also so sad when he finished. Hey - tell him he can do what Alissa and her boys do and read them all over again. :) Alissa said it's fun to re-read them after you know how it all ends and all the secrets and whatnot.

Has he read Percy Jackson? That's another series John read and loved. He's reading Lord of the Rings now too. :) They should totally email each other! John would love to talk about HP and it would be good writing practice for both of them. :)

-The Renee

Unknown said...

He's a Leo. I loved your story about the veterinarian! Big kid also gets very emotional about babies--happy, sad, they all make him weepy. He loves them. He'd like to be a newborn babysitter one day. :-)

Alissa, I heard of pottermore but haven't looked into it. Will you keep me posted? I want to take him to Universal.

Alexis, I do love it and am glad to hear that your boy still gets joy from the series!

Renee, I'd love if they were penpals, he actually mentioned writing to john about the books. Thanks so much for recommending Percy, someone else had and I forgot the title!

Anonymous said...

Be careful with the old man costume. My kids were Little Red Riding Hood, Granny, and the Big Bad Wolf. My Granny, Iz, was 12 at the time so she was about 5'8". Now I do overhire costuming for local theater so I went on down to CATCO and got some stuff. She looked like such an old lady she didn't get much candy.

PS - you can thrift him a baggy suit and pad it. You should make LK Kevin.

Kerry

Cindy said...

I came to also comment that BK should read the Percy Jackson books. My son (10 yo in June) read the HP books and I watched all the movies with him. We read the Percy Jackson books aloud together before bed. I love them. The second book is supposed to become a movie next year!

My boys and I have read the Narnia books many times and of course have seen all the movies. They have a lot of deep meaning, as you probably already know.

Sweet Big Kid. xo