Random Thoughts (May 21, 2010): Strawberries, Wieners and Dummies

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The Statue of Kiderty

We are driving down the road on my birthday and Hannah says to the other kids, “let’s sing happy birthday to Dad!”. Everyone breaks out in song…

I keep looking in my mirror and I see Landis staring, frozen, mouth open as wide as he can, bug-eyed… not moving, not moving, still not moving. After the song is over I ask “Landis, what in world are you doing? How come you didn’t sing happy birthday?”

“Because I’m a statue Dad.”

Well aren’t I the dummy.

Speaking of Dummies

Hannah (our 11 yr old from Ethiopia) is still learning alot of American ways and seeing many things for the first time. She was helping me put together something and noticed little stickers with letters on them.

“Why are there letters on every part Dad?” she asked.

“They do that to help you put it together. That way even a dummy can do it,” I replied. Yep, you know what’s coming next don’t you? Completely innocently with not a hint of sarcasm, she responded sincerely:

“So that even you can do it?” I never bothered to tell her she just called me a dummy. Do you think she knew? Don’t answer that.

Roses Are Red

Hannah loves to make up “roses are red, violets are blue..” rhymes. So she and I are going back and forth one day while driving and all of sudden Landis (4 yrs old) chimes in “I’ve got one Dad…”

“Roses are red, the sky might fall but it can wait until I get home and tell Momma.” I couldn’t agree more. I have no idea how he came up with that but I couldn’t agree more.

Strawberries

The strawberries this time of year are wonderful. We are eating a bowl of them the other day and I was telling the kids how good they are for you, and all the vitamins they have. Landis set me straight:

“Dad, strawberries make your head light up and then you know when you need to go to the bathroom.”

So now I know the real value of strawberries.

She’s Growing Up

The kids and I were horse playing the other day. Hannah (11) was skillfully pestering me and as we tumbled around on the floor I just couldn’t pass up the exclusive Dad-ordained-opportunity to give her a little wedgie. I mean, there was little glimpse of undies showing above her pants, I couldn’t pass it up, could I? Could I?

So I give her a little tug but the gloating would be short lived as she stood up and informed me, “Dad, I’m on my p_____d!” (you can fill in the blanks if you are old enough to understand)

You know they are growing up when you get hit with that one. You REALLY know they are growing up when she spins around right before exiting the room and says with a smirk and a wink, “just kidding. Gotcha.”

Hot Dogs and the Birds & Bees

We were eating the All-American lunch of hot dogs and chips the other day. Abby informed Momma that she wanted a wiener with her hot dog lunch.

Landis, being the good brother he is, quickly reminded her earnestly, “girls don’t get wee-ners, they get ‘buh-jie-muhs’”.

What do you say to that? I mean, he’s right, isn’t he?

Hannah is such a joy. She is growing up FAST!

I love to see Abby and Landis play together.
They are truly best buddies and more like twins than
adopted orphans from different families.


Landis got blindsided with silly string and
didn’t quite know what to make of it (had never seen it before).
Kind of puzzling for SpideyLandis who had only
done pretend web-slinging up that point.


This is Abby right in the middle of a hard chemo week.
We grownups could sure learn some attitude lessons from her.

I would be very grateful if you would share this with someone, or put it on one of the social sites:

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