Nate’s first school best friends were Lucas and Logan. Make that: Loo-kas and Logan. They palled around together for several years at Saint Lizzie’s. Then Bennett came along. Nate spends so much time with Bennett that I’ve caught him, on more than one occasion, absentmindedly referring to me as Bennett… Fortunately, after the great preschool closure debacle of 2014, Bennett joined us at our new school and thus, all was right with the world.
Now you must know, Bennett is darling. He’s got curly hair and big brown eyes and is always smiling. He has a similar high energy level to Nate’s older brother and coincidentally, his favorite color is also green. Bennett loves dinosaurs and has the great fortune of having a talented chef of a mother whose picture we get to see every time we visit our local Whole Foods. He is also an only child, which means Nate is probably guilty of being the “bad influence” when it comes to his panache for potty talk and as a transmitter of the “cool” things big boys are into.
Yesterday James took Nate to school and as he was leaving, he ran into both Charlotte and Bennett. Charlotte has a special place in her heart for James. She’s essentially our adopted older sister, though she’s younger than Jake. Meanwhile Bennett comes out of the office with his dad. As soon as he sees James he starts growling like a dinosaur and apparently grabs onto James’ leg. James has risen to Big Man On Campus around these parts. So James says, “Hey Bennett, is that a dinosaur on your shirt?” And Bennett smiles. And then after the usual chit chat and repartee, James extends his arm and proffers his closed fist, “Bump it, Buddy!”
Bennett pauses. He looks left, then right, then bonks his head against James’ closed fist.
Now who’s the bad influence?