It's a boy thing...

Usually, when Elise has her piano lessons, the kids and I just play around Ms. Robyn's yard with a ball we brought during her 30 minute lesson. The other day, Merry Grace had fallen asleep and so Ian decided to take his tennis ball outside and throw it and chase after it. He played for a while, then came back to the car and climbed in the front seat beside me. He began looking through the glove compartment and pulled out the manufacturer's booklet. I was supposedly reading a magazine, but watching him was quickly becoming more entertaining, so I pretended to keep reading, all the while just watching his super cuteness. He opened the book and began looking at some diagrams of the seats. His little forehead was furrowed and it was obvious he was deeply fascinated by what he was seeing. Then he turned around and counted the seats in the back, looked back at the booklet to count the seats in the diagram, and then with a firm nod of his head and a confident "Yes!", the booklet was proven correct. For several more minutes, he turned pages, looked at pictures, muttered comments under his breath and examined little things around him in the car. After a few minutes, he looked over at me and asked, "Is this book yours?" I explained what the book was for, knowing that he really wanted the book for his own. (side note: He has a serious habit of wanting to keep certain things he sees that someone else has. So far he's never taken something that didn't belong to him, but he isn't shy about requesting household objects--pine cones, tree ornaments, flashlights, etc.--to have. He always says he'll let you borrow it, though. :)) I told him he couldn't have the book, but that he could look at it anytime he'd like. He took the book out in the sunshine and looked at it for a good 10 or so minutes longer before Elise's lesson ended. It was such an adorable, manly thing to do. I think I would rather be strung up by my toes and beat with a wet noodle, rather than have to read the car's owner's manual. BORING!!!! But Ian loved it. That's a boy for you...
Do you not just want to smooch this little guy? :)