Last thing that made you smile?

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The tiny 4-year old girl next door, showing me the green beans she just harvested from SO's garden from a plant she started in pre-school this Spring. I got a long story on how she was going to have her mother cook them for her supper.

Those are the best stories. The little guy next door came running up, he was so excited, "I'm 5, I'm 5!!" I asked him what made that so special and it took him forever to explain that he was now old enough to start school. His Mom thanks me for listening patiently to him as he wears her out. He is so serious and so cute. He calls me Aunt Fi. I'll have to get Shrek to take a picture of us.

My smile is picturing Andy and Fiona listening intently to the stories and making the tellers feel they were really being heard! :)
 
We are not morning people so we've been hitting the churches with Sunday afternoon/evening Mass. At church this evening the mom in our pew had to leave her husband and three kids in the pew while she passed us with their youngest son, saying "I'm so sorry, excuse me". As she passed I said "no problem, been there" and smiled. When our kids were little our son hated sitting still for five minutes, so an hour was FOREVER. Afterwards, I went up to her and told her my husband said she had carried her son out all wrong. Before she thought I was chiding her I told her our son would kick on his way out so I had to hold him at arm's length facing away from me to avoid his kicks. Then I reassured her he was still alive and 32 at the moment, and that she too would survive. She was so grateful that someone understood! Yup, when it comes to things your kids can do I survived a lot of "been there, done that" moments. And cherish every stinkin' one!
 
My smile is picturing Andy and Fiona listening intently to the stories and making the tellers feel they were really being heard! :)

The saying is stop and smell the roses. I say, "Stop and listen to the little ones. They have some great stories to tell."

When Poo was about five he came running in. "Mommy, Mommy, come in here and sit down. You have to hear this" After a command like that how could I not listen. So I went into the LR and sat next to him on the couch while he narrated his tale of watching a "teeny tiny ant" carry something in its mouth. We had about a five minute conversation about that ant. Today, he has a roomful of students listening to him teaching them medicine.

The secret to listening to children with all your attention is to be able to get down to their level instead of expecting them to talk on yours. Not all adults are able to do that. Too bad. They will miss out on some great talks. And they won't see the world through a child's eyes. Andy and BT are two that come mind that can listen to a child. And now PF.

I spent many a happy hour with a child at the kitchen table doing homework and talking to me about their world while I made supper or was cleaning up the kitchen.

When I am out on my scooter, I will often pass a mother and child. The child is fascinated with the scooter. I let them touch it and have even let one or two sit in the seat. (After I shut it off.) I took maybe three minutes out of my day to put a smile on a child's face and made a mother very happy for such a short time. :angel:
 
I am told I have that ability as well. Having no children of my own yet long desiring them, I surrounded myself with other people's kids - of all ages.

I remember when we first started working with our church youth group and managed the sound booth on their youth nights. I was in early one night to set up the song lyrics on the computer and one of the older teens brought up his CD's (hundreds) to choose some background music. I looked over and said "wow, you have the new Kutless CD". His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "You know Kutless?" I mentioned a few of their songs and we chatted for the next half hour or so on all the different music. After that, TB and I were just part of the gang, even though we were the same age as everyone's parents. :)

Yesterday I saw this same "boy", now a man with a family. His four-year old came up to me and motioned me to bend down (which I can't), so I sat on a planter ledge and her dad lifted her up beside me. She wanted to tell me that there was a baby in her Mommy's tummy and that she would be a big sister soon (I knew this but reacted as if it was new news). I asked her if she wanted a brother or a sister and she looked at me excited and said "I get to choose?". Oops! ;)
 
It takes a special person to have the patience to listen to a small child search for the right words to tell you a story. And then to act as if it is all new to them, no matter how many times that story has been told. To not laugh at the way a word is mispronounced takes a lot of self control. We have two words in our family that are favorites. Jisdapeared ( I don't know where it went mommy, it jisdapeared.) and mark and blueblacks. We call that "Childrenese" A language all of its own.

Join and welcome to the club. :angel:
 
My grandson is going to middle school this fall and for days he has been saying he wished school would start now. I asked him why, and I said that he should enjoy his summer, and he said he can't wait to start learning. He reminds me of my oldest son, he couldn't wait to get up in the morning and get to his high school. Boy, they sure don't take after me, I dreaded each day.
 
My grandson is going to middle school this fall and for days he has been saying he wished school would start now. I asked him why, and I said that he should enjoy his summer, and he said he can't wait to start learning. He reminds me of my oldest son, he couldn't wait to get up in the morning and get to his high school. Boy, they sure don't take after me, I dreaded each day.

I am with your grandson. I loved school and thought of it as my refuge after we left the farm and moved to the city. I still love to learn. Spike takes after me. Something will come into his mind and he will go on a search to learn all about it. Sometimes he will be working for days on it. He always wants to know how does it work. :angel:
 
My grandson is going to middle school this fall and for days he has been saying he wished school would start now. I asked him why, and I said that he should enjoy his summer, and he said he can't wait to start learning. He reminds me of my oldest son, he couldn't wait to get up in the morning and get to his high school. Boy, they sure don't take after me, I dreaded each day.

That is wonderful, nothing like having half the battle done in his eagerness to go to school.
 
I smiled when DH showed me the progress he has made on our new patio. He's building it himself, about doubling the size of our current one. We're also going to cover the cinder blocks with brick veneer. Here's a pic:
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Thanks, PF :) He took apart our old brick patio and is re-using those bricks in the new one. I need to collect the pix I've taken of the project and post them.
 
Thanks, PF :) He took apart our old brick patio and is re-using those bricks in the new one. I need to collect the pix I've taken of the project and post them.

Very nice work GG. How is he at building decks? I need to get someone to build us a basic one off of our sunroom. With the hot, humid summer we've been having he'd feel right at home! If you can tag along, the two of us could probably get into trouble while the guys work. :ohmy: :LOL:
 
Very nice work GG. How is he at building decks? I need to get someone to build us a basic one off of our sunroom. With the hot, humid summer we've been having he'd feel right at home! If you can tag along, the two of us could probably get into trouble while the guys work. :ohmy: :LOL:

He helped his dad build his deck. It came out pretty nice. Your comment made me smile, too. :)
 
Very nice work GG. How is he at building decks? I need to get someone to build us a basic one off of our sunroom. With the hot, humid summer we've been having he'd feel right at home! If you can tag along, the two of us could probably get into trouble while the guys work. :ohmy: :LOL:

Why not? They are just down the coast a bit from us. A two day trip. Leave on a Thursday morn and get here about Friday late afternoon. :angel:
 
Why not? They are just down the coast a bit from us. A two day trip. Leave on a Thursday morn and get here about Friday late afternoon. :angel:
I was thinking the same thing, but would the trip really take that long? Aren't they in neighbouring states, and not big states?
 
Thanks, PF :) He took apart our old brick patio and is re-using those bricks in the new one. I need to collect the pix I've taken of the project and post them.


That is absolutely gorgeous GG and I'm so happy to see the recycling going on. Very nice !!
 
I was thinking the same thing, but would the trip really take that long? Aren't they in neighbouring states, and not big states?

According to Google, it would take about 10 hours to drive from the southeastern corner of Virginia to Boston (I don't know which town CG lives in, so I used that as a placeholder). There are several states in between, including Pennsylvania, which is pretty big. Maybe we could just meet in the middle, in NYC :mrgreen:
 
According to Google, it would take about 10 hours to drive from the southeastern corner of Virginia to Boston (I don't know which town CG lives in, so I used that as a placeholder). There are several states in between, including Pennsylvania, which is pretty big. Maybe we could just meet in the middle, in NYC :mrgreen:
I thought CG lived in MA. Isn't that what it says under her name? Am I just confused?

Wait is MA Maine or Maryland?
 
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