He's just a six year old and when he's teasing his sisters, emotional over something going wrong, or fighting dragons in the backyard, The Boy acts like a six year old. Every now and then, his ability to comprehend, deduce and reason astound me though.

The seventh graders at The Boy's school are putting on The Tempest tonight. Having seen a marionette version at our public library, The Boy has had "a thing" for The Tempest for over two years now. He really wanted to see the play, but it would keep him out past bedtime -- and being rather sleepy -- his parents would have rather not taken him out to a long play in the evening. But we gave him a choice.

He could go to the play, stay up late, but wouldn't be able to read in bed to himself tonight (which he only gets to do on the weekends). Or we could all go out for Thai food (which he's been begging to do for a while) and we would get home in time for bedtime and he could read in bed. He agonized over the decision for a while. Both were things he really, really wanted to do.

In the end, he made his decision -- "Even if we don't go out for Thai food tonight or for a long time, eventually we will get it. This is the only night I can see The Tempest. Besides, I'm on Spring Break, so if I can't read in bed tonight, I can every other night for the next week." He really reasoned through the problem. His parents were most impressed.

So we fed the children dinner, and Justin and the older kidlets went off to the play. I stayed home and put the littlest to bed.