Sunday, May 31, 2009

New Shoes

Child A gets all the new clothes. Child A gets all the hand-me-downs from cousins (including one 3 years younger than her). Child A has been getting hand-me-downs from friends. The clothes, the shoes, what's a girl to do... it's a dream come true. She loves it and some of it is stuff mommy wouldn't even consider buying her. What does a child of not-yet-9 need pumps for anyway?

All those cute shoes that her older sister gets and B has to WAIT until A grows out of them (and some of them A hasn't even grown into yet!) Child B has wide feet. Many of those shoes will never even fit her feet comfortably. But she still waits (and wears them anyway when A isn't looking!)

Oh, the turmoil of being in the middle...

So, with A having narrow feet and B having wide feet... And A having several pair of dress shoes and B, well, with only her sister's to wear... Today was the day to go shoe shopping for B.

The plan:
1. After church, B and I would use a gift certificate at our local Stride Rite store. Why Stride Rite? Because they will measure her feet, including width. They have a broad selection, including wide shoes. We have a gift certificate! Just the 2 of us.
2. She will be measured.
3. She will try on dress shoes.
4. She gets to pick which shoes she wants.
5. We will purchase them with the gift certificate.

How did it go?
Easy.

They had 2 pair of dress shoes that fit her and she chose the fancier pair. Of course. She IS a girl!

Bonus: They were on sale. I didn't even have to tell her that! (OK, I would have chosen the more expensive pair because they were more appropriate for a girl her age. BUT, it's OK. She gets to pick so few things and they are pretty much only for church.)

So, on the way home, I mentioned that A would LOVE a pair of shoes like that. A will probably be quite upset when she sees them. (A has been wanting a pair of "high heels" for over a year!) However, A gets a lot of things that B doesn't get or that B has to wait for longer. It's OK for B to have these shoes, but if your sister is very upset, well, what will you do? How will you handle that?

After a brief pause, B says from the back of the van, "Well, I won't be heart-broken about it or anything."

Hmmm. I guess I need to work a little on empathy...

Monday, May 18, 2009

God

My 3-year old thinks her heart is in her tummy.
She often tells me quite excitedly that she wants God to come out of her tummy so she can hug Him. Then He can go back in her belly button and live there more.

Sweet. Typical for Child C.

Can you unbutton your belly-button?

I asked my 6-year old, who takes life very literally, if I could unbutton her belly-button.
Her response?
A very dramatic, as if I were about to push a button to set off a nuclear bomb:

"Mom, don't! My insides will pour out and it will hurt!"

A dear friend forwarded me a funny email that said if you unbutton your belly-button, your butt would fall off. I laughed.

In one of his books, Author Robert Fulghum pondered belly-button removal and it's implications. After all, it is the life-connection with mother before birth. That is true. It was a very thought-provoking discussion. I'm sorry I don't remember which book; I read several. They were all amusing.

Not as amusing as my sweet, anxious, and lovable Child B.


semantics

One day we heard a knock at the door.
My at-the-time-barely-3-year old was always curious when someone was at the door.

Who could it be?
Could it be for her?
Maybe it was some superhero or fairy...














This particular day, it was a man dressed in brown. With a box. After retrieving the box from him and locking the door after, here is the conversation that took place:

3-year old: "Who was that?"
Me: "The UPS driver."
3-year old, with glee: "My p-s driver?"

We had a little alphabet lesson after that... The joys of a naive little girl just learning all the semantics of language.

She is now almost 9 and this conversation still makes me smile. She loves puns, letter games, and sentences or words made up of pictures. (At this moment, I cannot remember what those are called, but she loves them. If you know the word I am looking for, please put it in the comments.) Very detailed.

Thank you, Child A, for a smile today!