Apparently there is a limit to my tolerance. As we scrolled through helmet options on the computer he jumped and pointed and begged for the chance to look at Ms. Unicorn a little more closely. And as he was ogling over it I whispered from the side of my mouth to McKenzie (who was doing her homework right next to me), 'Kenz... Kenz... help.'
She looked over to see what the problem was and tried valiantly to stifle her laughter as she gently helped me steer him in another direction. The Dory direction. And he's happy as a fish about it.
Now, had he pushed hard and felt even more passionate about it, I probably would have swallowed my pride and bought Ms. Unicorn for him. But admittedly and totally politically incorrectly, I know I would not have been fully on board with it.
2) No matter how bad a day you think you're having, someone always has it worse.
Like this guy, for example. After dropping Timothy off at preschool in that building, I was strapping Eliza back into her carseat when I heard a couple of men start speaking in rather elevated, excited tones. I wasn't processing what they were saying until they were a little nearer to me and I heard the words, "Fire! ... Fire! ... Dude! ... Fire!" I looked up at the guys and followed their gaze across the street and saw that there was, indeed, a fire. And that no one seemed to know or be doing anything about it (except for pointing and exclaiming the word 'Fire' over and over again).
"Oh! Geez!" I said and reached for my phone to dial 911. Ironically I happened to be parked in the police station parking lot, and had taken my scouts on a tour of the station last summer, and had been in the room where the 911 calls come in, and had met the two ladies who answer them. So that was cool.
But not thinking that they wouldn't know I was sitting in their parking lot I said, "There is a car on fire, right across the street!" and then, realizing my mistake added, "in the rec center parking lot."
While we waited for the fire trucks to come, we heard the air bags explode and watched as people gathered. One man came running out of the credit union nearby with a fire extinguisher and when he saw the car he stopped and mumbled to himself, "Oh... this isn't going to be enough," so he stood there and joined in the watching. The fire trucks came quickly and had the whole thing under control in no time.
But the prognosis on that car? Doesn't look good.
3) Speaking of cars, the sliding door to my minivan stopped working.
So I took it up to the local car repair shop and since it's only a mile away from my house, I brought the stroller and walked back home after dropping it off. I thought Eliza looked so sweet strapped in there like that with those tiny little feet and tired eyes. We walked home while the car shop found that the van needed $1500 worth of repairs.
Honestly?
So hard to know...
4) Being wimpy and cold on the swim team is always better with friends.
Swim team has been even more fun recently since the Bacons joined. I laugh at them when they shiver and whine about the cold, but secretly I hurt for them and want to wrap them up in heated towels and sing lullabies about warm places. I hate being wet and cold.
5) Give him a sash and call him a leader and he will become one.
The elementary schools here do such a good job of empowering their students to become leaders. They give them opportunities and then make it a big deal when a child accepts. Miles was in charge of directing all of the parents into the multi purpose room for the awards ceremony and he took his job very seriously and with a smile.
More than a smile, actually. When he saw Timothy, Eliza and I come around the corner to be seated, he started jumping up and down and flapping his arms so hard I thought there was a good chance that he was actually going to hover off the ground. He rushed over to us and kissed Eliza and proudly directed us to our seats where we watched his teacher issue him an award for being a really great kid.
So much love.
6) In other Miles news:
He's officially a cub scout now. If you know me well you know that I don't have many warm and fuzzy feelings towards the scouting program (and I really have tried to look at the bright side and change my attitude). But I do love that smile on his face up there and I can honestly say that I love that he loves it. Here we go for round two of cub scouts.
7) Huddling under the heat lamps.
Summer must be over.
Eliza looks so much like McKenzie. You have such an amazing family. I feel the same way about scouts.
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