the smile

Silas, Chicken Whisperer has the biggest mouth you've ever seen.  He's not mouthy, oh no.  He is as good and sweet as a boy can be.  Everybody should have a Silas.  But his mouth is so wide it appears to go right across his face.  When he was born, while he was still dripping wet, I had a couple of thoughts.  Wow, does he ever look like my brother and Wow, he has a wide mouth.  Those thoughts followed closely on the heels of utter relief and praising God for new life, of course.

He is the humblest boy I have ever met.  The other day Alice reminded him to wash his hands after handling, you'll never guess.  The baby chicks.  He said, "Actually, I just did wash my hands.  You never have to remind me about that.  I'm pretty clean for a boy."  He reminds me of Sam Beaver in The Trumpet of the Swan, which by the way, I just read to Rosebud.  Highly recommended.

At any rate, yesterday I was driving home with Silas in the front seat.  He was looking in wonder (he does that a lot, he is a dreamer and thinker and wonderer) in the sideview mirror in the Large White Van.  He was smiling.  Slowly he turned to me after some amount of wondering and said, you, know, mom, I have the kind of smile that if people are mad at me and I just smile, they can't help smiling.  Then they can't be mad anymore.

I remarked that is kind of handy.

He said, "It goes right across my face, you know." 

I said I had noticed that.