Sunday, February 15, 2009

Carrots and Books

My Grandpa often recited the following:

There was a little girl
Who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead;
And when she was good
She was very, very good,
But when she was bad she was horrid.
-Longfellow

Change "girl" to "boy" and "curl on the forehead" to "shaggy blond hair" and THAT IS JACOB. (As an aside, I was always really confused by the "curl on the forehead"...I didn't know it was hair. Like what does a forehead curl look like?!)

Anyway.

Here's an example of my very, very good boy. I'll save the horrid for another day. (I've got pictures...and they're gruesome.)



















7 comments:

Jana said...

He is very very good! I wish my kids would kick back with a good book and a bag of carrots...that would be so cool!

Anonymous said...

The way he loves his books is adorable.

I remember so well Grandpa saying that poem. I had a hard time grasping what "horrid" meant; it was such a foreign word to me. I pictured the forehead curl looking like the Superman curl my mom drew on my Ken doll. Maybe that's what Longfellow meant?

nbarnes2 said...

he is so good. even very very good. now can a kind and loving aunt still say...i've seen the horrid? am i allowed to say that?

Mardee Rae said...

Ah, yes, he is a dream come true, isn't he? Carrots and books...if only my child....oh, but then there's that horrid part, yeah....:)
Well, we love him. Very clever, with the little poem, by the way. Now that you are a parent, you know that Longfellow meant that in a very, very real way...not just some little rhyme that he happened upon, eh?

Anonymous said...

I couldn't help but notice the similarity to how Matt must look when he studies. Jacob surely looks like him in that second picture.

I bet Grandpa's English teacher, Miss Fenton, would be so proud that piece of Longfellow stayed with Grandpa for so many years and for so many recitations! I am laughing that all that time you didn't know what a forehead curl was. :)

Andrea said...

That is funny. I didn't remember that poem from Grandpa though. I thought it was my parents thing. I guess now I know who they got it from.

Hilda said...

Now there's some serious study going on, and what better treat could you ask for than a bag of carrots. I love the way Jacob shovels the carrots in with his sweet little hand. Love, Mom