#121 A Sincere Apology

Jack was carrying around his beloved toy alligator, before I knew what was happening he walked up to one of his sisters and whacked her on the head. I immediately said in a stern voice, "Jack, that is a no-no. Hitting is not nice. It is owie. You need to say sorry."

He looked extremely penitent and remorseful. My speech had gotten through. Now all I had to do was wait for the apology. It came immediately, Jack lifted his alligator to eye level and with an apologetic frown he stroked it's head and said sincerely, "I'm sorry alligator. You okay?"

Yeah. I'll work on that one.

#120 Santa Baby

Hallie had just been to see Santa with Grandma. A thoughtful silence had prevailed in the car. Hallie asked, "Grandma, when Santa was a baby did he have a little tiny beard, or no beard?"

Haha. I tried to picture what she might have been picturing... but it was too weird (even for my mind) to formulate an image.

#119 Tell my Story

Hallie and Dasia came up crying--obviously a quarrel had taken place. I was about to apply my usual tactic of allowing each to tell me her side of the story, when Hallie cut me to the chase--and then some, "Okay. How about I tell you my story and then Dasia tells you her story. No. How about I tell you Dasia's story and then she tells you Taylor's story. No. Wait. How about I tell you my story and Dasia's story and she tells you Taylor's story," she allowed a small pause to think it through, "and I tell you Taylor's story."

#118 That's Optimism

While cleaning up Brecken found a penny. Not shiny. Not a penny and a quarter. Just a penny. But she felt it warranted an excited exclamation. This was her reaction (and remember, every last word was spoken with enthusiasm):

"Ah! A penny!!!! Look! I found a penny!!!! Every little bit helps! If I had ninety nine cents already--BAM! This would be a dollar."

I wanted to add, "And if you had nine hundred ninety nine thousand, nine hundred ninety nine dollars, and ninety nine cents... BAM. You'd be a millionaire." haha. Yep. Every little bit helps. Way to be positive Breck.