Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha Gonna Do?

Emma, Luke, and I went to Story Hour at our local library today. The guest speaker was a police officer and his beautiful German Shepard K-9 partner, Nurka. All the kids got police hats and badges, which the librarian personalized with the kids' names and choice of badge number.

I watched my kids as the officer spoke. Emma was her usual reserved self, but I could tell she liked being that close to the dog. She slowly crept until she was sitting about two feet away from Nurka. I figured she wanted to pet her. Luke was enraptured by the whole experience. He kept putting on his police hat and nodding at what the officer said. He even reached down and proudly smoothed his sticker badge a few times. He was peering so closely at the officer. I couldn't help but be proud that he was so excited by the experience. After all, he comes from a long line of men who were in law enforcement (or lawbreakers, but that's another post for another day).

Everyone listened intently, enthralled by the officer's stories of Nurka's training and acts of bravery. She entertained the crowd by licking a one-year-old boy full-on in his face. (Eww.) Kids were raising their hands and asking excited questions about Nurka and what the Dutch commands meant that she responded to. I was surprised to see my normally shy and quiet son raise his hand and wave it quickly. I held my breath with anticipation of what he was going to ask about Nurka.I fully expected something along the lines of "How much does she weigh? What does she eat? Why does she smell like old socks? Does she poop a lot?" You know, typical five-year-old boy questions.

But, how soon I forget that this is Luke--Not your typical five-year-old boy.

Officer: "Yes, son, what's your question?"
Luke: "What's your badge number?"
Me: "**Snortgiggle**"
Officer: "607."
Luke: "Mine is 8." (Not coincidentally, also his tee ball number this year.)

I should have known that the thing Luke was most excited by and took away from the experience would be number related. That boy is math crazy! (Did I mention he's doing 3rd grade accelerated math as a Kindergartener? Yeah, that explains a lot.)

Have a blessed weekend, everyone!