Cind-a-wella Allison is gearing up for Broadway these days with her love of singing, dancing, and the movies Cinderella and Mary Poppins. She knows nearly all the lyrics to all the Cinderella songs. Though it did take us a while to convince her that Cinderella sings "No matter how your heart is grieving" not "No matter how your heart is greedy." But after a while she caught on. :)
What Goes Around Comes Around I often find myself listening to my own words through the kids' mouths...
Allison: "No, Care Bear. You shouldn't throw toys. That's one. That's two. That's three. Take a time out." (it's nearly an exact impression--right down to the matter-of-fact tone of voice).
Jared: (to Allison, after she asked for milk with her dinner) "I'm sorry, dear, you can't have milk. The doctor says just water at dinner time because milk isn't healthy... it's just a little bit healthy." (Our doctor said that?)
Baby Brother One day Jared paused his playing to comment to me, "Mommy, Thomas is surrounded by love." "You mean we all love him a lot?" "Yeah. He's surrounded by love."
Growing Up? Jared has been thinking a lot about growing up... for a four-year-old. About a month ago he declared to me, "Someday when I'm grown up, I'm going to get married and live in California and have a baby boy. I'll name him Brance." (Well. I never knew he had an interest in CA. I don't think he's ever heard the name "Brance" before, either.) Last week Jared told me as we were getting into our car, "When I'm grown up, before I have a wife, I will get a pickup truck. Then when I have a wife and children I'll get a van." (A practical plan, I must say. When I asked him what color pickup, he said, decidedly, blue.) Then just this week Jared has developed a sudden phobia of growing up. He's brought the subject up once a day for the past couple of days, asking me if he would get to be a baby in my tummy again and then grow up and then be a baby and grow up... When I told him that he got to be a child just once, he was dismayed. Last night he prayed that he would get to be a baby again in my tummy. Afterward I gently suggested that it's good to pray for what we want, but it has to be part of Heavenly Father's plan too. And his plan is for us all to grow up and stay grownups and have children of our own (did I say the right thing?). That news brought him to the verge of tears. He let me give him a hug, then confessed that the reason (or one of the reasons) that he wanted to be a baby again was to see what it was like in my tummy. I assured him that doctors and scientists have taken pictures inside mommies' tummies, and the next morning we could see some of those pictures on the computer. That seemed to pacify him a little. But I think that "seeing inside Mommy's tummy" may not be the root of his concern. A few days earlier he had told me and Adam that he didn't want to be a grownup because "that would make me worried." Maybe meaning that grownups are too serious and worried about lots of things?
Doc & Hoagy It's interesting to see what scenes Jared and Allison pick up from the movies they watch. Lately they have been enjoying the Disney movie Pete's Dragon. It's a story about an orphan, Pete, who is looked after by a friendly dragon. Among the antagonists are a traveling quack doctor, Doc Terminus, and his side-kick, Hoagy, who sing a dramatic song about making "money, money, money by the pound." After bath time, Jared and Allison will don their hooded towels (Jared's dark blue, Allison's a vibrant pink), hold the sides out wide like Doc Terminus does with his red silk cape, and holler, "Oh yeaaaaaaaah! It's money, money, money by the pound!" Allison, especially, sings and wraps her cape around herself with such relish. Well, we certainly couldn't put the original performance on Broadway. But maybe I'll put pants on them one of these days and take a video.
Holy Cracker The other day at snack time we were eating Triscuit crackers. Jared proudly held up his cracker and declared, "It's the temple!" I have to admit, that is the most like the Salt Lake Temple I have ever seen a cracker look. And I've seen a lot of crackers.
Getting Scientific One night, Adam and I were talking about something over dinner. When we glanced at the kids we found them both with their heads pulled inside their collars, their faces pressing out against the inside of their shirts. They flailed about blindly, calling, "I'm a scientist! I'm a scientist!" We couldn't help cracking up. Where in the world did that come from? We've witnessed this scientific display a number of times since. And how they came to think that sticking their heads inside their shirts makes them "scientists" we never will know.
Lunchtime Solace All this talking certainly is entertaining. But combine the three kids, and the sound can be downright clamorous. Such was the case earlier this week. We had just arrived home from a long morning with friends at the park. Everyone was hungry, Thomas was tired, and I was hurrying to put together lunch. Jared and Allison started out in their seats at the table, but as I started pulling food out of the refrigerator, Jared began to migrate toward me, asking whether we could have ketchup on our hot dogs, and do we get buns, and can he have a glass of water? Allison was buckled in her seat, so instead of migrating, she just raised her voice, repeating all of Jared's questions to me, in double the decibels. By this point, Thomas noticed that I had pulled out the Ritz crackers, and he began his food war cry (well, really it's a frantic panting, yelping sound. He is such a quiet baby... except for when he wants food). I stood frozen in the middle of the kitchen floor, hands full of hot dog fixings, unsure of how to proceed. Then I had an idea. I marshaled Jared to his seat, reached for our kitchen speakers, and flipped on Enya. "No talking!" I warned. "Quiet till the song is over!" Silence. All I heard was silence! It was a moment in history worth recording. Apparently I hadn't played Enya for them before because the only words that were spoken during the entire song was an awe-filled whisper from Jared, "Mommy? Is this song about the temple?" When the next tract began to play, Jared and Allison asked eagerly, "What's this song about?" "It's called 'Shepherd Moons'. It must be about the moon." Jared brightened. "Like on the night Jesus was born?" I tried not to smile too much. I guess it's good that they associate reverent, beautiful music with the temple and the gospel. And now I have a new secret weapon to calm the lunchtime frenzies.
Big Daddy Plans This past weekend we listened to General Conference over the internet. In her talk, Sister Elaine Dalton described her childhood memories of meeting her father in the front yard every day after work. She ran to him and he scooped her up, twirled her around, then danced her on his shoes all the way into the house. Jared piped up from the kitchen table where he had been coloring, "That's cool! I want to do that with my daughter." Just twenty more years, Jared, and you can!
Why Are You So Happy? This was the question Adam posed to Allison one day as she sat snuggled in my arms--cheerful as usual. Allison smiled even more and replied, simply, "Because Heavenly Father loves me."
