It's Time

The innocent honesty of children amuses and astounds me.  I love hearing my daughters' interpretation of the world around them (except, of course, when the mommy doll puts the child doll in time out for 100 hours or says "I'm so disappointed in you" as part of casual mommy-daughter-doll conversation).  Sometimes I sit beside my girls wondering what their lives are like - what they process of everything surrounding them.  I think back to when I was 4 and would hide in my mom's closet and try on her boots and high heels and look at the sparkly "gems" on her necklaces and think about how glamourous she was.  And since I have no gems and wear less make-up than my girls, I wonder how they perceive me.

Or, I did.  You know, one of the greatest aspects of watching Abby develop is seeing how her creative expression takes flight.  And now that she has mastered the basic stick figure, we have a whole new medium through which to see her world.  Meet the Ashleys, as drawn by Abigail during Primary:

                                                                                                             Not your average stick figure family!  Oh no.  We have bellies.  Nice, rotund circles.  And eyes that happen to be just about as big.  

So, I think it's time.  Time for us to open those big eyes.  Time to accept that our four year-old's basic artistic rendering of our not-so-little-in-girth family includes circles protruding from our otherwise tall, slender frames.  Time to let the truth sting.   Time for those vegetables in the garden to get growing.  Time to turn on the treadmill to make sure the engine hasn't blown out while sitting idle for 2 years.   Ohhhhh..... it is..... beyond...... time.  

QFTD

The first thing Ellie said upon waking up and through sleepy eyes:  "Mom.  You twicked us."  Me: "I tricked you?" E: "Yes.  You fogot to give us a pwize undoh ow pillows. You need to.  But you twicked us."

Abby's prayer: "...Please bless that we can have fun in our castle.  And bless our magical telescope and...our magical slide.  And, bless we can have a normal door.  But our castle is magical." Ellie: "And bless the telescope!" A: "Hush! All prayers are different!  Please bless we can get a magical slide and magical curtains.  And a normal door..."

I told Abby it was time to go to her Kindergarten registration.  Abby: "Is it my first try at kindergarten??  I'm going to sit up so so straight in my chair and not slaunch so I can be like a kindergartn...er - like a kindergarten kid."

The girls got some 70's revival karaoke CD in a kids meal that Abby insisted we listen to while leaving VA.  When "Shake Your Groove Thing" came on, Ellie called out "Shake your body!" So, I started to shimmy and shake in the driver's seat. Ellie: "No! Not you, Mom!  Just Abby."

I told Abby we have a fun run on Saturday morning and that Bruce, her friend, will be there.  Abby: "But, Bruce has Sketchers.  He'll run faster than me."

Ellie: "Mom!  It's time to get this fiesta started!  Everyone will bring their violins and play them all around."

Ellie was pretending to be an authority figure to a stuffed animal while Abby sat nearby. Ellie: "You knock it off!"  Abby: "I am NOT a knock off!"

Abby: "You never knew a girl like me. I just can do big things and I can just do real cool things!"

Abby:  "My brain just reminds me when girls have scissors and other dangerous things.  Ellie has your scissors!  My brain reminded me."

I came into my room to find Ellie pulling books off of the bookshelf.  Ellie:  "I'm really just librarying at the library store."