Friday, August 04, 2006
Full of Life
It would be a vast understatement to say yesterday was a full day. Somehow I expected today would be calm. Not so full. Just a me-staying-at-home-with-the-boys-while-Sarah-and-Chris-are-at-the-hospital-with-Addison kind of day.
Wrong.
I came down to Sarah just about to walk out the door, headed back to the hospital. When Sarah left, I almost asked, but you just don't want to speak some things over yourself. I almost asked, "what if anyone calls to see the house?" Nah. Don't even go there. We're gonna have a calm, nicely structured day.
Fifteen minutes after she drove off, the phone rang. Could they please come by to see the house in 45 minutes? After phoning Sarah and getting the list, the list that tells you how to make the house look like something from House Beautiful, I hung up. When they phoned back to give us an extra 30 minutes I truly looked up at the ceiling (you know where God lives...) and said, "Thanks, I needed that." We - Caiden and I - pulled it off. Good towels out, dog out too. Pick up, put up, etc. Where, oh where to go with the kids for an hour or so? We head down the road, destination undecided. Caiden and I discussed the options - I suggested Target. He spoke like a true male, "You just bought groceries." Only a male would think we go to Target for groceries... He spied the Petco sign, and said, "Can we go to the pet store?" My immediate thought - free zoo. Absolutely, we can go to Petco. The first place we headed was the reptile section. There was a tank with frogs all over the place - these funny looking, flourescent green, polka dotted frogs. He got right up to the tank, pressed his face against it and soaked it all in. "Grammy, that tank is just full of life." We got to pet a bunny, discuss the pros and cons of ferrets, watch dogs get haircuts, see love birds duke it out, and Nemos galore. Coming out of the store, I couldn't quite remember where we'd parked, or exactly what Sarah's car looks like. I walked up to a minivan, clicked the remote to open the door. Nothing happened. Ah ha, not our car. The next one wasn't either. Looking across the parking lot with just a wee bit of panic, what if I can't find the car in the 100 degreee heat with these two little boys? I saw it. Their minivan sitting across the lot, all the doors open.
We ended our excursion at Chick-Filet. The second they handed me the food, Caiden had to go to the bathroom. Of course. I asked them to keep our food. We'd be back. When I got back, they'd given us cokes instead of milk. I considered going back in the bathroom to see if "clueless" was stamped on my forehead. Do I look like the kind of person who is going to give two little boys caffeine and sugar before naptime? Before we got the food out of the bag, Caiden started bargaining with me to go play in playland. I explained, less than 99 times but more than 20 why he absolutely could not do that on my watch. He didn't understand why we couldn't just leave Grayson in his little chair. By himself. As I watched the little boys (they were ALL boys, his age) crawling all over creation, I just didn't have the heart to stick with no. I told him he could climb up two times. T.W.O. He flew off, and as I walked in, with Grayson (we didn't leave him in his chair), I overheard Caiden saying to a little boy, "Nice to meet you Alex." When he came down the slide, he gave me this look that so said, this is my second time down and she's going to know it and make me leave. I asked him, "Was that your second time?" He said no. I said, "I'm pretty sure you're fibbing to me. We don't fib. Tell me the truth, then you can go down again." "It was my second. " One more trip down and we were off.
On the way home, we listened to a Curious George CD. We saw a police car, with another minivan, pulled off the road. I told Caiden, "Look." He loves to see police cars who have 'caught people.' He said, "Somebody broke the law. The police man might be taking them to jail. Or he might be giving them another chance, or they could be paying a vine (yes, vine) so they don't have to go to jail. I know this because once, when I was in a car, (to remain anonymous) got pulled over for rolling through a stop sign. The policeman told them, you don't have to pay a vine. You don't have to go to jail. You get another chance. So they might be getting another chance. Because sometimes policemen give chances." I literally laughed outloud to not only hear him tell me this story; I thought back to how many times our children spent the night at friends' houses, the stories they likely told on us.
It was not the "calm, nicely structured morning" I had envisioned. It was Full of Life. Just like the cage of frogs. Full of life is oh so much better than calm, nicely structured.
Wrong.
I came down to Sarah just about to walk out the door, headed back to the hospital. When Sarah left, I almost asked, but you just don't want to speak some things over yourself. I almost asked, "what if anyone calls to see the house?" Nah. Don't even go there. We're gonna have a calm, nicely structured day.
Fifteen minutes after she drove off, the phone rang. Could they please come by to see the house in 45 minutes? After phoning Sarah and getting the list, the list that tells you how to make the house look like something from House Beautiful, I hung up. When they phoned back to give us an extra 30 minutes I truly looked up at the ceiling (you know where God lives...) and said, "Thanks, I needed that." We - Caiden and I - pulled it off. Good towels out, dog out too. Pick up, put up, etc. Where, oh where to go with the kids for an hour or so? We head down the road, destination undecided. Caiden and I discussed the options - I suggested Target. He spoke like a true male, "You just bought groceries." Only a male would think we go to Target for groceries... He spied the Petco sign, and said, "Can we go to the pet store?" My immediate thought - free zoo. Absolutely, we can go to Petco. The first place we headed was the reptile section. There was a tank with frogs all over the place - these funny looking, flourescent green, polka dotted frogs. He got right up to the tank, pressed his face against it and soaked it all in. "Grammy, that tank is just full of life." We got to pet a bunny, discuss the pros and cons of ferrets, watch dogs get haircuts, see love birds duke it out, and Nemos galore. Coming out of the store, I couldn't quite remember where we'd parked, or exactly what Sarah's car looks like. I walked up to a minivan, clicked the remote to open the door. Nothing happened. Ah ha, not our car. The next one wasn't either. Looking across the parking lot with just a wee bit of panic, what if I can't find the car in the 100 degreee heat with these two little boys? I saw it. Their minivan sitting across the lot, all the doors open.
We ended our excursion at Chick-Filet. The second they handed me the food, Caiden had to go to the bathroom. Of course. I asked them to keep our food. We'd be back. When I got back, they'd given us cokes instead of milk. I considered going back in the bathroom to see if "clueless" was stamped on my forehead. Do I look like the kind of person who is going to give two little boys caffeine and sugar before naptime? Before we got the food out of the bag, Caiden started bargaining with me to go play in playland. I explained, less than 99 times but more than 20 why he absolutely could not do that on my watch. He didn't understand why we couldn't just leave Grayson in his little chair. By himself. As I watched the little boys (they were ALL boys, his age) crawling all over creation, I just didn't have the heart to stick with no. I told him he could climb up two times. T.W.O. He flew off, and as I walked in, with Grayson (we didn't leave him in his chair), I overheard Caiden saying to a little boy, "Nice to meet you Alex." When he came down the slide, he gave me this look that so said, this is my second time down and she's going to know it and make me leave. I asked him, "Was that your second time?" He said no. I said, "I'm pretty sure you're fibbing to me. We don't fib. Tell me the truth, then you can go down again." "It was my second. " One more trip down and we were off.
On the way home, we listened to a Curious George CD. We saw a police car, with another minivan, pulled off the road. I told Caiden, "Look." He loves to see police cars who have 'caught people.' He said, "Somebody broke the law. The police man might be taking them to jail. Or he might be giving them another chance, or they could be paying a vine (yes, vine) so they don't have to go to jail. I know this because once, when I was in a car, (to remain anonymous) got pulled over for rolling through a stop sign. The policeman told them, you don't have to pay a vine. You don't have to go to jail. You get another chance. So they might be getting another chance. Because sometimes policemen give chances." I literally laughed outloud to not only hear him tell me this story; I thought back to how many times our children spent the night at friends' houses, the stories they likely told on us.
It was not the "calm, nicely structured morning" I had envisioned. It was Full of Life. Just like the cage of frogs. Full of life is oh so much better than calm, nicely structured.
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