#124 Sam or Buddy

To fully appreciate this story you have to know Jack. He takes things pretty literally. Well, not things as much as names. I have never been able to get away with saying, "Sorry, Charlie," without a rebuke from Jack. I can't call him "Buddy" or "Kid" without him retorting emphatically, "No, I'm Thack!" (speech impeded version of Jack).  He likes to be called by his name, no terms of endearment for this kid.

So when he climbed up next to me and said to his little brother, "Hi, Sammy. Hi, Buddy!" you can imagine my surprise. And then he said to me through a giggle, "I said, 'Buddy.' Wait. Is his name Buddy or Sam?"

I said, "Both. You can call him Buddy or Sam," thinking I was on the verge of a breakthrough.

He began stroking Sam's head and said in his sweetest baby voice, "Hi Both! Hi-i-i!" He then made a disgusted face and said, "No. It's Sam. I don't like Both," and then scurried off as fast as he had come, leaving laughter in his wake. Nope. No breakthrough.

#123 Dinner Discussions

One evening at the dinner table Russ introduced the topic of Gardening. He and the girls enthusiastically plotted for a lavish garden, naming their favorite foods we were to grow. The topic floated into raising chickens, and then dwindled into Russ and I talking about neither gardening nor chickens. The girls were disgruntled. They wanted their share of the conversation.

Hallie surprised us by saying, "Can we talk about God and stuff?"

Wow. Did she just say that? My heart immediately melted. All parents long for the moment when their child asks to talk about "God and stuff" unsolicited.

Brecken on the other hand was less than enthused. "No, let's talk about gardening, and chickens, and stuff!" Apparently the sweetness of what was occurring was lost on her-she wasn't in the mood.

Hallie interjected again, "Yeah, I want to talk about gawdening."

Special moment: gone.

Moment of enlightening.

Not "God and stuff" "gawden stuff." Oh. Okay. Special moment: gone, maybe. But the hilarity made up for it. Oh, Hallie. That's why I love family dinners.

#122 Do You Have a Cold?

As the title suggests, sickness was prevalent in our home. And as it often does, it had gone through the children. One. At. A. Time. It's latest victim: Hallie. Early in the morning she climbed into bed with me and listened to me sigh. She took that as a cue that I was also sick (I wasn't--it was just a sigh).

"Do you have a cold?" she asked.

"No." I said.

"Oh," she said with an understanding tone. "You have a hot." Then she added with her own sigh, "Me, too. "

Yeah. Whoever came up with the term "cold" anyway? I think I'm going to stick with having a "hot." So much more applicable.