The Littles in Life

I absolutely love kids. I adore them. They are so full of life, curiosity, determination, zest, energy, wonder, and say some of the best things ever. They haven’t been tainted by the struggles of life, yet. They haven’t had certain things beaten into them (metaphorically, of course), like the way things “should” be or whatever confinements many of us adults live within. Their minds are sponges and they have their own way of processing things. They actually have a lot to teach us, if we just stop and listen.

I have been absolutely blessed to have several children be a part of my life. I’d like to share some of the cute things they’ve said or done that have stuck with me because they tickled me so much. The “Littles” in my life have actually been one of the greatest joys of my life. I’d also love to invite you to share some of your favorite kids sayings or musings.

Daveed’s Doozies

My brother had my ten-year-old nephew call me to ask if I was “ballin’ out of control.” My nephew didn’t want to ask me that at first. He did as he was instructed, though. Once he asked me, my brother explained that it meant someone was playing basketball extremely well or had a lot of money. My nephew said, “then, I’m ballin’ out of control, Dad! I have three hundred dollars.” Apparently he’s been able to save all of his allowance through this pandemic.

Last year, we took a family cruise together. As we were in a van heading to our shore excursion, my ten-year-old nephew told a young lady on the bus that she was beautiful. He is not shy about doing that. That sparked a whole conversation. As they were going back and forth, he ended up asking her, “May I offer you my cabin number?” The entire bus bursted out in laughter. He looked at us with his innocent eyes as big as ever and asked what he did that was so funny. I’m sure he thought they would talk about Super Mario or Pokemon or play on his iPad, but to the adults that comment took on an entirely different connotation. 

Many of our lives have changed in ways we never would have imagined due to current world-wide struggles. My oldest son got married last month. Very few people were allowed to attend, but it was streamed live for those who couldn’t be there in person. My ten-year-old nephew (same kid from above), watched with his mom. He looked at her halfway through and said, “Mom, I just love love.” He told me to tell his big cousin that he was proud of him for finding a wife!

Amar Asked For It

A few years ago a good friend of mine used to play with his son by tickling him. He would tell him, “Let’s play Daddy beats Amar.” It was their thing. It was absolutely adorable to watch. Of course, that terminology could be taken severely out of context if it were said in the wrong place, at the wrong time, right? One day, he went to drop his son off for his first day of school. After saying goodbye, he started to leave. When he got to the door Amar called out, “Daddy, you can beat me now!” The teachers’ faces were quite priceless, I’m sure.

No Lies

A friend of mine has one major rule with his kids. They are NOT to lie to him. The first time his oldest daughter, Julia, was going to spend the night with someone other than her parents, he reluctantly agreed. She was about five at the time. He even went a step further to arrange a date to keep himself occupied.

He dropped Julia off with his grandmother, went to pick up his date, got to the movie theater, purchased the tickets and snacks, and received a phone call as he was entering the theater. His grandmother let him know he needed to come get his child. He dropped his date back off and headed back to his grandmother’s wondering what had happened. He walked inside the house to see his daughter sitting at the counter enjoying some ice cream, looking like she was on top of the world. He had pre-determined that whatever she did would warrant a whooping. He was caught completely off-guard seeing her eating ice cream.

He asked Julia, “what’s the problem?” She informed him that she was misbehaving, acting up, and not doing as she was told. As she was explaining, his grandmother came walking around the corner. He looked up and asked if Julia left anything out. She had a shocked look on her face, but said Julia had covered it all. He asked his grandmother why Julia was sitting there eating ice cream, and was her bad behavior rewarded with ice cream. She told him she’s still her great grandmother so she can do what she wanted to do. He asked Julia to give him one reason why he shouldn’t whoop her. She said, “Daddy, I didn’t lie.” Perplexed, he took her home, knowing that she was right.

Lincoln’s Logic

My cousin’s four-year-old son, Lincoln, is full of zingers, as well. My Aunt (his grandmother) is missing two fingers from a work accident many moons ago. He’s never mentioned it before. About a year ago he was visiting his grandmother and sitting outside in her yard with her, watching her dog play. He went to the fence to play with the neighbor’s dogs. She told him not to put his fingers through the fence because the dogs could bite them off. He came running in the house to tell us that his grandma’s fingers got bitten off by a dog.

My Aunt had a carotid artery surgery last month. Lincoln missed her terribly while she was in the hospital, as he’s used to seeing her almost daily. When she came home, he was excited to visit her. He asked her why she had railroad tracks on her neck. A few days later, he got to spend the day with her and my mom. He told my mom that she had to blow up his balloons for him because his grandma had tracks on her neck.

Construction Zone

My oldest son had crooked teeth, like many young children. When he was about nine-years-old, he saw a picture. (I actually posted that pic on the “Welcome to My Circle” post.) He told me, very seriously, that his teeth looked like a construction zone. I was stunned and didn’t know how to reply. I couldn’t help but laugh, though I felt bad for him. (He got braces a few years later.) He was typically pretty quiet and reserved, but when he had something to say it was usually impactful.

Mommy’s Little Monkey

My youngest son had just started pre-school, in our attempt to help him learn to socialize and prepare him for kindergarten, which was quickly approaching. One day, my neighbor picked him for me. When she dropped him off, she informed me that his teacher really wanted to have a conference. I wanted to know what he had done. She said he was being his rambunctious self, climbing and jumping. When she asked him why he was behaving like that and asked him to calm down he informed her of my little pet name for him. He said, “Mommy says I’m her little monkey.” The teacher didn’t approve of my pet name for my hyper baby boy.

Trying to come up with a discipline plan for my goofy baby boy was a never ending process. I took all of his toys one time and left him to take a nap. I was definitely not prepared for what I would see when I went to check on him. I saw him playing “cars” with torn up pieces of toilet paper. How do you punish a kid with that kind of imagination?

Aaden’s Adventures

Another friend took her toddler to the beach on a family vacation. She put him on a blanket in the sand, as is typical. He grabbed a handful of sand and shoved it in his mouth. The other parents were looking at her, horrified. She told them he’ll learn. He made faces and spit the sand out. A few minutes later he repeated the process. To this day, about ten years later, he still hates the texture and feel of sand. I guess he learned the gritty way.

Briselle the Baker

My friend’s little girl enjoys baking, which started when she was seven. Despite baking  being an activity that produces something that’s full of sugar and tears up the inside of your body just to put a smile on your face, he found a way to make the process far more educational.

When she asked him if they could bake for the first time, he said yes and encouraged independence and thought. He told her they could, but only from scratch. She had to figure out what she wanted to bake and compile the list of ingredients and directions by herself. She utilized a well-known cooking website and did over an hour’s worth of research.

After a couple of hours, he noticed her playing around on You-Tube and figured she had abandoned her plans to bake. He realized he was wrong when she asked later if they were going to the grocery store. He asked for what, and she said the ingredients.

He described the trip to the grocery store as magical, as she insisted on carrying the hand basket, found and procured all of the ingredients on her own, and wanted no help, except for the payment. He did help make sure the ingredients would be enough to cover her recipe. She did everything except take the cookie sheet out of the oven. (He did help her mix the dough after her tiny little arms were struggling to continue the process by hand.)

He said he had never seen that level of patience, deep thought, or diligence in a child so young. He also experienced pride and fear during the process. Pride in his little girl’s attention to detail and initiative. Fear that if she was already that mature at seven, would she want to move out by twelve?

As an update, she is now ten and running her own little business baking treats. She dreams of opening a cafe within the next ten years. Her orders have included red velvet cake, sweet potato pie, a variety of other cakes, and cookies. She has also cooked some amazing dishes, though baking is her first love.