Odds and Ends

I have just tucked the boys in, and as every mom knows, those sleeping kids sure are cute. Well, I can't help it if ours are cute when they are awake too. Even if they do grate the red wax covering along with the cheese, and want to crack their hard boiled eggs on their foreheads. Even though they like the car windows rolled down when it's frosty cold out, and put their faces to the wind like a couple of puppies, and embarass me by activating the car horn anti-theft device. And even if they race each other down the driveway when the postal truck comes and bring me the "ee- mail" and then show me every single page of every piece of junk mail and ask me what it is.

Of course every situation and every conversation helps with their English. At supper tonight Bob asked each of us to share about our day. Rob told about basketball practice, but what he really wanted to do was read some A.A. Milne poetry. His new brothers loved "Sneezles and Weezles," and we all laughed at the one where, "James was a very small snail." Maggie told how she'd waited at the police station while some guy took a breathalizer test, before she could get her fingerprints taken for her new daycare job. James had tons of fun making chocolate chip cookies with Mimi, and Peter had ridden one of the big bikes and put his feet up on the handlebars.

None of us shared how the day started with Peter needing his ribs tickled to dispell a pout that was about to happen, and how James had to sit on a stool near Mom for a while in the kitchen. Recalling my Grandmother's technique with her six sons, I had brought him near me and continued with my work.

He too had demonstrated the art of flipping slippers into the air, when he didn't want to be told what to do. And he too had learned once again that Mom means it when she tells him, "God says you must obey me today."

While he sat there, Bob called from work. He reminded me that I must win this one. I know he prayed for me because shortly I had an idea. I folded a paper in four and wrote on the outside "A Family" inside a heart. Then I opened it, and spreading the paper before James on the table. I drew a line down the middle with the title on one side, "Dad and Mom" and on the other half, "James".

Under "Dad and Mom," I wrote the things that his parents do for him. They love him; they give him a family, nice clothes, good food, a bed, a house, a school, sports, teach him about God and Jesus Christ, give him toys, a bicycle to ride and books. What a long list of things we must do!

Now look on James' side of the page. There is only one thing there for James to do. That is, to say,"Yes, Mom, I will" with a smile. If, instead he says, "No!" then Mom will scratch out bicycle, and then scratch out sports, then toys. When I got down the list to cookies, I went over to the plate Maggie had stacked high with hot, freshly baked, chocolate chip cookies and slowly began placing them one by one inside plastic containers and putting them into the freezer.

He watched me solemnly and saw me stop and close my eyes and pray. In a moment he left his stool and came and looked up at me with big eyes. "Mom, I am sorry." I told him that I was so glad, and that it made me happy to hear him say that. He said, "No, Mama, I am sorry." It wasn't until I said, "I forgive you," that he put his arms around me and we hugged and laughed. He still was not allowed to ride the bike for the rest of today, but we also went over the list again to explain that, no matter what he said or did, bad or good, we would never stop loving him, giving him food, clothes, and a home.

This afternoon he and Peter had a wonderful time at the supermarket shopping for their favorite thing of all, food! They jumped and ran to open car doors and store doors for me, loaded and unloaded the grocery cart and were so helpful at the check-out that the sweet girl there just had to ask them their names and, "How do y'all lahk America?"

This evening the three boys hung over Maggie's shoulders at the computer giggling over messages they translated back and forth to each other using translation2.paralink.com. Maggie had introduced the concept at lunch when Peter had said he didn't like the potato soup. She had dashed to the computer, and in a instant returned with the Russian translation of, "If you don't like it, suffer in silence."

Tomorrow we shall expand on the word silence and discuss how when one adds a silent e at the end of a short vowel word, it makes it long, like when cap becomes cape and Tim becomes time. Come to think of it, the whole concept of silence is a good one to review generally... especially at bedtime.