Things They Say

Tonight, we were looking up at the stars.

"Does God live on that star?" Rob asked.

"Yes," Graham replies, "and our prayers have to go all the way up there. The more and more people pray, all the prayers, see they stack up until they reach Him and He can hear them. That's why we should pray."



Now we know who we are singing to when we sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and When You Wish Upon a Star means something more than what I thought. Maybe a wish is a prayer. Paul always reminds that we should have faith like a child...

Keeping the fork

There's a story I've heard many times, that I always like to hear once more.

As she was preparing for the inevitable, and making her funeral plans, an elderly woman was talking with her preacher about her wishes.

"And, make sure I'm buried with a fork," she commands.

"A fork? Like a table fork?"

"Yes, a table fork," she replies. "As a child, my grandmother and mother would always remind us to keep our forks at the end of the meal, because dessert was coming. We'd hold our forks in hand, and wait for the best part of the entire meal. All my life, I've remembered to hold my fork, the best is yet to come. And, so, when I am buried, I want a fork in my hand - I'll be ready."

I've heard this story told at funerals, at pep talks, in church services, and there is always some inspiring point that follows it. When we talked with the boys about a New Year, and all that we want it to hold, we each had the same theme: optimism. We are all looking forward to good things to come.

So, in 2012, we are keeping our forks.

Just makes us laugh...

We knew better. We really did.

Christmas Eve, after telling the boys for days "We'll open Christmas Presents on Christmas Eve, after church" we came home from church and thought we'd take pictures. Really, we thought we'd take decent pictures that we'd cherish. We didn't even attempt the full family shot; the tripod was too much work. So, we just tried for Mommy and Daddy shots with the boys. And this, with Christmas presents waiting to be opened underneath the tree, is the best it got:

Christmas Eve/Christmas Day

Amazingly, we didn't take many pictures this Christmas. We were too busy playing, I guess. What pictures were taken, the majority are blurs - little boys running from one present to the next. Here's our best shots from Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning. These two little guys could hardly contain their excitement.

Little boys come with sound effects

Little boys do not come with instruction manuals. The details a parent is left to learn on their own.

However, little boys come with sound effects. No, I'm not speaking of the "natural" sound effects; although, admittedly we experience those two. What's amazing to me are the whirring, beeping, swishing noises that they instinctively know.

• Planes go "whirr" in the air, "whoom" when they land, and "swish" when they speed up.
• Trains say "choo-choo" when they past by and "chugga chugga" as they climb hills. Before the engines ever start, someone must yell "All Aboard!" 
• Star Wars characters, especially Jedis, make their own "swish" noise, that sounds a little more electronic. Star Wars guns make a "shwong" noise as they shoot, whereas light sabers "shwirr" and Chewbacca moans a moan I can't put into words.
• All doors, drawers and components of any toy makes a variety of sounds, but they certainly have their own sound effect.
• Any pilot falling out of a plane, damsel in distress waiting for Batman to rescue her, or any super hero in perilous trap of Penguin or Joker scream "Aaagh." Just as soon as they've discovered how to escape the evil lurches, they scream "Aaah-yah" which is similar to a Karate chop.
• When anything speeds up, the sound effect goes up the scale, almost a complete octave.
• When things slow down, not only does the sound go down, but the effect becomes deliberately slower in pace...sl-o-w-ing... down...down..down...to..its..fi-n-a-l..s-t-o-p.

The sounds effects are apparently necessary for play. Often, complete dialogues transpire between heroes and villains,  without the boys ever speaking to another human, let alone one another. 

Amazingly, the boys even classify toys by their sounds. I've just been asked "Mommy, where is my thing that goes Whhisssshhhhh really fast and then Bonk?" 

I'm lost. 

Most likely, the lost toy doesn't even make a sound; the sound he hears is part of the Sound Effect Language, which I have not yet become fluent. 

Things they say, with a flashback...

Remember when Rob was devastated to learn he has a crack?

Just in case, months ago, we were talking about bottoms and mentioned that everyone has a crack. Big Rob was in utter disbelief. He was certain he had no crack, that the horrible fate would not be his. His happy little world was shattered when we explained, with a mirror, that, yes, he too, has a crack. A lip pout to break even the Grinch's heart began to quiver, and a slow, wailing cry began. Pretty soon, the agony overcame him, and he had buried himself in a pillow sobbing. For a solid week, he would sheepishly and apologetically tell anyone and everyone "I have a cwack." His heart was broken.

Flash forward... I had long since forgotten those painful days for Rob. Then today, playing, Graham says "I see your crack!" Indignantly Rob tells him he doesn't have one, but Graham goes on to explain to Rob every little detail of his crack. And, this afternoon, poor Rob cried again. "I have a cwack!!!"

Its hard to console when you're giggling. It's one of our motherly super powers.

Lord help us,

Candice

Things they say...

Tonight, Graham has decided he will not sleep in a shirt any longer. He came in, with just his pajama bottoms on, and proclaimed: "Mama, its a new year, I'm going to be five, and I am grown up. I'm not wearing a shirt to sleep in. Do you hear me? You're just going to have to let me do what I want to do."

He's presently buried under three blankets and complaining he's cold. But, he's grown up now...