Category Archives: Cute stories

Aren’t kids great?

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Snapshot Update

Two weeks ago, now, Jay and I droe to Anchorage and back, leaving Friday afternoon and returning Saturday night.

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The next weekend the Renaissance Faire got rained-out, but the girls still got to wear their costumes:

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On Saturday to Papa and Grandma’s, and Sunday to church.  Yes, Melody wore a shirt under that vest.

I find I didn’t get a picture of Elisha in his bi-colored “jester” outfit, but Mom got several, so I’ll have to get hers.

He didn’t really care for it on Saturday (thought we managed to “trick” him into wearing it, which is no small trick these days).

But when Elisha saw the girls in their costumes on Sunday he was excited to put his on again, and as soon as Jay tied the back you would have thought he was wearing a cape, because he began at once to make these flying leaps between pieces of furniture.  I felt a little shell-shocked.

Something about costumes, I guess…

That same weekend a bird flew into our garage:

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Elisha was the first to notice him (Jay and I couldn’t figure for the longest time what he was so excited about).

He was still stuck after hours with the door open and it took some getting to get him out, but it was finally accomplished. (A flashlight in a dark garage and a dry humidifier figured largely in this process.)

Just this last Saturday we did a lot of biking around, and Jay found a way to fit all three kids (and yes all buckled) in the bike trailer.

3-kid-trailer.jpgYet another moment when I’ve marveled at the perfection fo God’s timing and design in giving us children of these ages and sizes.

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Controlled Vocabulary

I am working on a short fairy tale to submit for publication (sort of a breather from the novel, you might say).

Naturally the language is how I would tell it.

So I’ve begun to go through it with my “Children’s Writer’s Word Book” checking the words I guess to be more challenging than the others.

I was thinking I was doing alright, most of those words were acceptable at a 3rd- or 4th-grade level, until I got to enchanted.

As in, “enchanted castle.”

Enchant is designated a 6th-grade word.

I called Natasha over and asked her if she knew what the word meant.

“Um, magic?” Good enough for me.

I told her, “This book says you have to be 12 to know that word.”

She looked at the ceiling and laughed quietly.

“You can be four too,” she said.

I’ll check the rest of the manuscript, but if that’s the most challenging thing we’ve got in there, this thing’s ready to look for a publisher.

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Warm Hands are Misleading

A few nights ago Melody was using the potty after bedtime, so all the big lights were out.

Responding to her call for assistance I could see well enough that I didn’t turn on any new lights.

Melody reached out and took my hand, feeling it like clay in the dark, trying to recognize it. Finally she asked, “Is this Daddy?”

“No, it’s Mama,” I told her. “Why did you think it was Daddy?”

“Your hands were warm…”

I could hear the confusion in her voice when she first asked the question.  It was so unusual even the familiar size and shape couldn’t overrule the temperature element.

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Natasha’s Observations

Natasha [whispered to me]: Daddy’s being a good daddy: he’s changing the sheets.

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She’s been playing one of Jay’s Everquest characters this morning, too, and I heard her run to Jay and shout, delighted, “I collected a striped blue butterfly!”  Which is doubly adorable because she only knows that because of the print that came up on the screen.

Jay and I are continually surprised at what words she has in her sight-vocabulary.  It’s very fun.

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A new food

Isn’t this sad?

The girls didn’t even know what cauliflower is.  Shopping yesterday I bought some, and the girls’ reactions were great.

“What’s that?” (distrustful) “What do you do with it?”

I explained it by saying you can do anything with it you do with broccoli. One of the girls gushed, “You can make soup with it!”

So that’s the plan for dinner.

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A Complement

The girls have developed an attachment to The Sound of Music and we were watching it this morning.

How would you explain Maria’s leaving after her dance with the Captain?  To a 3- and 4-year-old?  I did okay, I guess, but I’ve not had an answer before today (and they have asked).

Today I said Maria thought she couldn’t serve God if she got married, and she felt she loved the Captain and wanted to leave before he wanted to get married.

Natasha seemed to understand me, and I added “That’s a little silly, isn’t it?  We know lots of people who are married and serve God.  Don’t we?”  She grinned.

“You!” she said.

I liked that.

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Practicing Being a Man

After a wedding last year Jay was surprised to realize how early a little girl’s wedding fantasies could begin. This week I was surprised to learn how early a little boy could begin acting like a man.

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When visiting the homestead I always feel uncomfortable having my little children around Toby. He’s very dominant and doesn’t listen well to me, which, I admit, disposes me more against him.

He’s only actually acted dangerous when the kids are running and shreaking (usually from an uncle or Grandpa playing “monster”), but whenever the dog wanders into the vicinity of the children someone will tell him to get away.  I prefer it this way.

One morning Toby followed a bunch of us into the back of the house. Teena told him to get on his way and he wandered into a bedroom further down the hall. Elisha kept stumping toward Toby as he walked away from us, and shook his finger in the empty hallway, grunting authoritatively ( “Ungh! Ungh!”).

Then he took my finger and tottled around until he was between me and the room the dog had gone into, then he *pushed* me ahead of him up the hallway. He watched the bedroom door all the way, and when Toby poked his head out it prompted another series of fierce grunts and finger-shaking.

He didn’t let go of me or stop pushing until he’d taken us straight to the room where Jay was working. When he saw his dad and I started telling the story, Elisha wandered off in his normal, aimless, little-boy way.

But there was no question that for a while there he was very focussed on protecting his Mama and getting her where he thought she’d be safe.

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Weekend Nuggets

Twice as we were driving to Wasilla and passing roadwork Natasha shouted, “Daddy!  Look!”  Both times there was the quick glacing about for the source of her delight before she pointed to the side of the road and said, “Dirt!”

We couldn’t help laughing.

On the way home the girls were asking something about clouds and where they come from and where they go.

Melody shared her content analysis matter-of-factly :  “Don’t you know– that snow and milk make clouds?”

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Admiring Daddy’s Work

Jay did a fantastic job cleaning up the house Saturday while the kids and I were visiting a friend.  He’d picked-up all the floors so I could see most of the living room.

I was complementing Jay again on how nice the new floor looks, thanking him again for his hard work.

“Isn’t it great?” I said to Melody.

“Yes!” said Melody, enthusiastically.   “I like the new floor.  Daddy made it all slippery and stripy.”

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Gotta love what they take away…

We read the story of Adam and Eve last week from the girls’ bible.

I read the part about Eve’s creation and reminded the girls what ribs are (Natasha’s favorite book for a while was the Eyewitness Skeleton book, so that pleased her).

Incidentally, I loved that, since I don’t see any reason to encourage the idea (perpetuated by the Halloween marketers) that skeletons are something to be afraid of. I think they are marvelously designed, and it’s good to appreciate that.

Anyway, the girls were talking on their phones to each other, playacting being other people, when this exchange took place and I had to drop everything and write it down.

M: How are you doing today?
N: Not so good. God just took a rib out of me to make a woman.
M: Oh my.
N: Yes. And When I woke up, it was awful! I went to feel my bone and it wasn’t there– it was all mushy.