Friday, January 23, 2009

Giving Pause

A couple of Sundays ago, T-- decided to bring Tootie Fruities (or "Fruitie Tooties," as he calls them) to church for his "snack." In the middle of sacrament meeting, T-- started rubbing one of the cereal pieces all over his face and then tried to rub one on my face as well. I couldn't figure out what he was trying to do. Then he leaned up to my ear and whispered, "Smew my face, Mom!" Um, what? He repeated it. Ohhhh...SMELL my face. Ah. Got it. "Okay," I said, still a bit confused, and sniffed his cheek. "Does it smew wike Fruitie Tooties?" And, lo and behold, it did! Do they make Tootie Fruitie cologne for 5-year-old boys? Because T-- would be all over it.


Last night, about half an hour after A-- was supposed to be in bed, he comes running out of his room, all excited. "MOM! MOM! LOOK!!!! I solved it!" He had a Rubik's cube, completely solved. He'd been reading a book that Phil gave him on how to solve the cube (without taking it apart, which is how I always solved them) and he got it! I was so impressed! I never could figure those things out. Even more proof that A-- is waaaaay too smart for his own good (or, rather, for my own sanity). What a great kid.


During one of his violin lessons a few years ago, S-- came across a fermata. He got all excited and said, "Oh! I know what that is!! It's a one-eyed penguin!" To that point, I'd never really seen his teacher laugh much (she's very shy), but she was nearly weeping with mirth that day. It made my whole week. And every time I see a fermata, I will think of S-- and his sense of humor.


All these things remind me that I need to pause occasionally and just enjoy my children for who they are, to really live in the moment and love what is happening now, rather than hope for better times to come. Even if these things aren't "funny" to someone else, they made me laugh. I need to do that more often.

On that note, what better person to remind us to embrace the moment than Nie Nie? Go bid on some sweet stuff in preparation for the benefit concert for her family.

11 comments:

Mrs. O said...

Mmm, fruitie tootie cologne. Now there's an idea. He can solve a rubik's cube? Impressive!

Sister Pottymouth said...

I think it would only make me hungry to smell it. Then again, wouldn't it be nice if we all had fruitie tooties? (Sorry, I couldn't help it.)

NiHao said...

..."weeping with mirth"...are you serious? Nobody talks like that anymore. Time to put down the thesaurus...lol

Sister Pottymouth said...

Yadda yadda yadda, big bro. Leave my vocabulary alone. At least I have one.... ;-)

Michelle Glauser said...

Sweet. :)

B said...

It's fun to hear about all of their different personalities. Kids are great!

NiHao said...

Lest a dearth of vocabulary serve as an encumbrance unto myself, perhaps I ought not allow my elucidations to metamorphose importunate.

Sister Pottymouth said...

Big Bro NiHao: Uh...what? All right, all right. Point taken. I shall never malign your lexiconic competency again. Then again, how long did it take you to compose that sentence? (ha ha)

QueenScarlett said...

It's not a one eyed penguin?

Just call NiHao a "shen jing bing" ;-) I got your back Sis Pottymouth.

NiHao said...

Hey! Wo mei you shen jing bing...wo jende hen tsungming!

Sister Pottymouth said...

Q.S. and NiHao: If you two are going to do any word sparring in Chinese, you have to provide translations.

I must say I'm shocked to see so many comments from NiHao (my brother) on one post. This is awesome!