Stand Up For What's Right... Like Good Hygiene

I love getting those precious opportunites to peer into the minds of my children, and hear what they really spend their time thinking about. They either amaze, confuse, frighten or amuse me. It's always such a treat to get a glimpse into how their little heads process everything.

We had VBS last week, and a church revival each night this week, so with Olivia there's been much discussion over The Choosing of the Outfits. She's such a girly girl and it's a total hoot to see how much importance she's placing on the selection process. It makes me question my hopes of her going to Harvard, but it's cute just the same. We have to discuss all the different scenarios like, "this shirt with these shorts means I can't wear these shoes, and I really wanted to wear these shoes, so should I switch to another pair of shorts?" I try to temper her wardrobe enthusiasm with an understanding that there are more important things in life, but what can I say? I just can't seem to get her interested in Tibet, Darfur, Obama vs. McCain, or the price of oil right now. Go figure.

I also enjoyed a funny chat with Bri the other day. She wanted me to help her remove the earrings she had worn in the wedding, so that "she could put them up to save them for her little girl to be the flower girl in her wedding someday." This opened up the box of explaining that her little girl would not be there for her wedding (one can only hope), because the wedding comes first, then the babies. I'm hoping I made that quite clear. LOL. She then went on to say that she is saving her flower basket from the wedding to pass on as well, but she can only have one flower girl instead of two since she only has one basket, and she doesn't want to ask to borrow Sissy's, because Sissy may need hers, and she's afraid buying a second basket "will pobbly be too 'spensive, cuz weddings cost lots and lots of money and she doesn't have any cuz she spent it and she only has pennies left in her bank and pennies aren't like real money." I told her that her dad and I would probably be willing to spring for a second basket. She seemed happy about that. Another crisis averted.

I think these kinds of talks are always fun with Bri because she will inevitably start talking about the man she's going to marry. She's adamant that she's going to marry a "Chinese boy and not a white boy." When she was smaller, she used to draw pictures of our family that always had one extra Asian person in them who was much smaller than she was (this was before the days of discussing the adoption of a baby brother). I always suspected it was her way of working through her feelings of being the "odd man out" in the family... You know? Since she didn't have someone to look like her, she just added one in who did. But whenever we asked who the other person was, she would always say he was her "tiny Chinese husband." He would always be half her size, so clearly we can see who plans to rule the roost.

Tuck tagged along with me recently to run a few errands. We had a good time hanging out and, as always, the conversation was interesting.

Tuck: Hey, Mom? You know what I really, really love?

Me: No, buddy. What? (she said with great trepidation, fully expecting the conversation to quickly devolve into a very detailed discussion of Spiderman or Indiana Jones.)

Tuck: People who take a stand. You know? They see something wrong going on, and they say that's it! I'm going to make that right! I just love that. I think that's awesome. That's the kind of person I'm going to be when I grow up. I'm going to stand up for what's right and put a stop to bad things going on.

Me: Wow... That's great, Hon! What kinds of things will you take a stand on? Do you know yet?

Tuck: Yeah. Well, I know of one. First, I'm going to put a stop to burglars being able to sue people for shooting them if they break into your house. That's not right. I think that's ridiculous.

Me: Oh... Well... Yes, it is. What else? Is there anything else you will take a stand on?

Tuck: Um... I had another one earlier but I can't remember it now.

Me: Oh, okay. Well, maybe you'll think of it later.


Later...

Tuck: I thought of the other thing I would take a stand on, Mama.

Me: Oh, good. What is it, bud?

Tuck: People who don't wash their hands after they go to the bathroom. That's disgusting. I always wash.

Me: Me, too. And you're absolutely right. Something horrible should happen to those people.

Tuck: Yes! Like they should get a ticket. Or not be allowed to leave the bathroom at all until they've used water AND soap on their hands. Some people use water, but no soap. That's not good enough. Why do they even do that? Just to make people think they have clean hands when they don't? Then they're gonna sit down and eat with those hands? That's so sick. It's just not right.

Amen to that, buddy. Amen!!



A few pics to keep the grandmas happy...

I tell Evan I want to take his picture, and this is what I get. No cooperation. So, I tell him I'm going to put these pics on the blog, and...
THIS is what I get. Even less cooperation. Evan asked me, "How come you don't ever show any normal pictures of me on your blog?" Well, sweetheart, there aren't any.



Heading out the door for a special "Girls Day Out." Bri is laughing here. When she laughs, she gives it everything she's got