We actually had two words of the day yesterday; facetious and factitious. First meaning to say something in a jocular manner and the second to do something opposite of the feeling so to speak. I thought of those words as I think of my son’s manner last night. Not long before a friend stopped by he was giving me a hard time, pushing his limits so to speak. Wanting the full brunt of my attention and when I refused to do what he asked he was bent upon trying to weasal me about doing it in his humorous way. I’m not used to the change I saw in him, from giving me a hard time to suddenly becoming all man like and talking serious about one of the subjects he has a passion about. The kid thru me off. . . .gone was the 3rd grade man with the little kid smirk trying to weasal something out of his mama and here was a man trying to show his worth, trying to learn about being a man from someone he believes to be a man, from a man’s opinion he trusts (tho he wont always admit it to me everything he says and his actions speak that he does trust this man’s opinion).
I guess my only wish would have been that Jonny would have expresssed how much we, he and I, worked together on fixing the car. I believe very strongly in teamwork, in all of us working as a team. It’s one of the things that I believe makes us stand out. When we were working on the car I could not have done it without him yet at the same time it would have taken a whole lot longer for him to do the job without me. We each bring different strengths to the job and it was just recently that we have been able to bring those strengths together and actually do the repairs needed. Yet I also understand his need to build himself up in front of other men, to show that he is becoming a man and doing manly things. He is still learning. . . . . and well it wasnt like I didnt try to get at him tho I didnt mean to. I still smile over the jacket. We argued for close to an hour in Bluestem – he wanted one jacket and I insisted on a different type of jacket. The one he wanted cost more and was not as well made and it would not be as warm. Finally he relented and picked one from the ones I was directing him towards. Later on when he was deer hunting after his first days hunting on our way home from the camp he made comment that he was sure glad he had this jacket for it was the only part of his body that stayed warm.
With all of his arguments with me I know he is constantly testing the boundaries, constantly testing whether or not I will act upon what I say. He knows inside of himself that I am there for him, that I am working for his best interest yet in his way he has to argue each and every point as if he is trying to see if there are flaws to my argument, flaws to my reasoning . . . . and at times it is most frustrating!!! Yet in so doing and tho often he wont admit it is as if he needs to make sure that the reasoning and logic are actually there and in the end he comes to follow along in the same reasoning. Oh I dont believe I am stating this right.
Its like the jacket, argue fight try to get his way yet in the end he knew that I was looking out for him. In the future he will look for the durability and warmth factors of a jacket and know how to match up a purpose for the jacket over going simply with his stylish choice.
It just throws me for a loop when he does what he did last night and I am sort of perplexed by how I reacted to his manner in some ways. So often I am trying to keep him in check on things, his mannerisms I forget that he is growing up and is becoming a man and that he is an awesome young man in so many ways. I dont always have to keep his head from getting to big – which he trys to do now and again. He is an awesome young man and he has a sound character that I often see shining thru. I am very proud of that. Proud and grateful to have been apart of the refining process. And I am very blessed. . . . 
