A Different Perspective

If you are like me, you don't remember much about being a pre-schooler. I have only a handful of memories from when I was two and three years old. Not that they are separated into which year they occurred in, but I know they were during those two years due to the fact that my family was living overseas. Once we moved stateside, my memories are almost all wrapped up in the hype that lead up to my first sibling and the aftermath. All memories after that age include my sister Amy. Well, maybe not all, but you know what I mean. Her birth was one of those world changing events in my little life.

Anyway, all that rambling to say that I am enjoying the discoveries of my children and how they view the world. Admittedly, I roll my eyes sometimes, but then I shake myself a bit and remember that new experiences cause us to do and say things in wonder at the new found whatever it is that other folks have experienced so many times that they are desensitized to it. And still, I ramble! Let me skip this pondering and just get to the point(s) that I have in writing this entry.

Last Friday, we had a cat burglar visit our home. I probably would never have noticed were it not for the high pitched sirens that came running in on short legs shouting at me. I was busy gearing up to leave for a night of no children and lots of talking with good friends. A whole twenty four hours of chocolate, chatter, and childlessness. Does it get any better? Needless to say, I had turned the kids out into the backyard while I diligently crammed all my chocolate into a bag, and a few clothes, too.

Suddenly, the back door comes flying open and Thomas and Sarah Grace come screaming and crying into the house. They were so hysterical that it took me quite some time to figure out what the problem was. Since nobody was bleeding, I wasn't to concerned. Finally, the nasty, scary truth came pouring out of them. They had been the victims of a surprise attack.


The beastly Sadie had jumped the fence to steal the bits of lunch that were scattered about the picnic table. Sadie, the most fearsome of all domesticated cats, was immensely enjoying her pillaging until she saw me and the camera. I guess she is camera shy because she shot across the fence into the neighbors yard. By then, of course, my children had surmised that she was not going to hurt them. They bravely chased her to the fence while throwing bread at her.

While I went about my lovely girls weekend filled with chocolate, chatter, and near childlessness, Joshua took Thomas and Sarah Grace on a grand adventure. Folks, I contend that my dear husband wins the Daddy Of The Year Award hands down. The man took a three year old and a two year old camping. Truly camping. Tent, sleeping bags, lantern, camp fire, the whole nine yards. And, AND, he didn't cheat. No prepackaged meals for this roughin' it crowd, so sir-ee. He took sausage, fresh veggies, bacon, eggs, and I don't know what all else to make their meals from. Just him, the skillet, and the campfire. Frankly, it looks delicious.


I ate Arby's on the way to Birmingham. I almost feel jipped. Almost. I did have three other women, a bag of chocolate, and two cutie kiddos (Elizabeth and Ellen fall at the age where they get to stay with the Mommys).


Soanyway (remember, one word now), Joshua recounted the tale of taking the kids hiking...at night. Don't fret, it was mostly flat land, they weren't scaling Monte Sano Mountain in the dark. He had Sarah Grace on his shoulders and was walking along when the following conversation took place:

SG: I see stars.

Joshua: Yes, aren't they pretty?

SG: The stars is moving! And the trees is moving, too!

Joshua stopped walking and explained to Sarah Grace that while the stars did move, we couldn't see them move. He showed her how everything got 'still' when they stopped. I gather she preferred the thought of them moving since the telling of that conversation stopped there. And of course, I did not think to ask further. I was still amused at the 'stars is moving' line. I love kid lingo.

My favorite tale of late is just this: Tuesday I had sent the kids outside. (I swear, I don't make them stay out all day everyday, it's just that outside is where the funniest things tend to happen. Not all, though, and I promise to post about some of those some day.) Even though I had made corn dogs, a favorite lunch treat, the kids did not eat very well for lunch that day. I excused them from the table and out they went. As I was cleaning up the leftovers, I decided to toss the corn dogs over the fence line towards the cotton field so that Sadie, or whoever else, could snatch them up. I opened the back door to see Thomas busily weaving grass and flowers and small sticks into the chain link fence. I smiled at his intense work and started tossing miniature corn dogs out to the field. The soft thuds caught the attention of Thomas and he looked up at the sky.

I saw him look, but didn't really see him looking, if ya know what I mean. I tossed out the last two corn dogs thinking he realized they were coming from behind him. (I forget that kind of logic hasn't necessarily developed yet) He very excitedly turned and started running for the door. He pulled up short when he saw me and started yelling, tripping over his words in his exuberance to get the story told.

'Mommy, I see da, I saw, there were, did you see? Mommy, da corn dog eggs, I saw dem, did dey, dey came from da sky! Corn dog eggs from da sky! Jesus frew dem to me!'

And that, friends, is where I had to work hard to reign in my laughter to keep from embarrassing my little man. Jesus throwing corn dog eggs.

I have more tales to tell, but not now. I want to keep you coming back for more, right? Besides, this is the second time I have tapped out this entry. My computer blitzed the last time and I lost THE ENTIRE ENTRY! That was two days ago. I have been pouting since then. Now I am going to go make hot chocolate and relax with a book during the rest of this peaceful time I like to call nap.