Today was a milestone day. First of all, we went to the movie with friends today. On our way out, Jake said he had to go to the bathroom. I’ve never let him go into the men’s bathroom by himself and today, there were no men to accompany him. He looked at me and said “Mom, I am a third grader now. I will be fine”. So, I let him. And he was fine. I can’t shelter him forever. I can only teach him about “stranger danger”, but he also needs to know that just because somebody is a stranger, it doesn’t mean they are going to hurt him. I need to remember that, too.

Secondly, Lloyd and Jake had their first “man talk” tonight. It wasn’t exactly a birds and the bees talk, but it laid the groundwork…and most importantly showed Jake that there isn’t anything he can’t talk to his dad about. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall, but this needed to be a father/son moment.

Finally, we finished reading Where the Red Fern Grows. Lloyd’s actually been reading it to him, but I hung out and listened to the last couple of chapters. I sat here and cried like a baby. Lloyd was choked up too. Jake thought it was sad, too. But, we had a great discussion about why God allows seemingly bad things to happen.