Remember Me This Way
The kids say so many things that make me smile in a day. This post is just my way of jotting them down, so I can remember them later…
1. Tonight after bath time, Dylan got out of the tub, held my face in his hands, and said in a sing-song fashion, “I love my mommy’s smile!”
2. Two days ago I was going out to shop a little that afternoon. I asked Anna if she wanted to come and she decided not to. Shawn heard and asked confused, “What? You don’t want to go?” Anna came back in a dry, witty way, “I know. I surprised myself.” She is usually my shopping buddy, our girl who loves to be social and go places!
3. Around Christmas time we stopped to eat at Subway. It was time to go, and Abby stood up and began to sing the lyrics to “Drummer Boy,” “I play my drum, I play my drum.” What cracked everyone up, though, is she began spanking her bottom as the drum! Dylan LOVES to retell that story!
4. Dylan and Anna decided to show off their dance moves in the check-out line at the grocery store. They began singing a kids’ Christian pop song. The clerk got enjoyment as they crouched to the ground and sang, “One, two, three…I get down, (insert them popping up) but He lifts me up! I get down…”
5. I needed to head to the grocery store, and Dylan and Abigail said they wanted to come with me. They had been fighting and whining a lot that day, so I told them if they came they couldn’t fight. Dylan assured me he would be good. Abby was direct and honest, “I will fight.” Ha!
6. Dylan’s words of affirmation one day, “I love Daddy so much I want to tackle him!”
7. Dylan crawled into bed with me early one morning before the sun was up. We had talked a bit as he lay beside me. A moment later he says to me as he stares strangely at me, “Mommy, are you someone else? Because you look a little like a bobble head right now.” I assured him, even though it was strange lighting right then, it was really his mommy! He did happen to mention my crazy bed head later; that part was true!
8. When Leon, my sister’s German exchange student, was staying at our house, Abigail really took a liking to talking with him. He was having trouble interpreting what she was saying at the restaurant one day, so Leon asked Tracy to help him. Abby had just exited the restroom and stopped to tell him, “Leon, I went stinky!”
9. Dylan wonders why they put the word “Gorilla” in gorilla bars (a.k.a. granola bars!)
10. As I was loading my groceries into the back of our vehicle, Abby kept trying to stand up in the cart. I tried to make her realize the severity of what could happen if she stood up. I told her sternly, “Abby, you could fall out. You would smack your head on the ground and have to go to the doctor. You might need to go to the hospital. She stared intensely at me. I felt I was getting through to her. Then she added what her heart had been pondering, “Then the doctor will say to me, ‘WHAT THE HECK!’
11. Dylan wanted to know if the tooth fairy has wings. We told him that the story books say she does. His response, “Prove it, you Mister!”
12. I asked Dylan if he wanted to play soccer this spring. He said he did. I told him if he played that Daddy would be his coach. He then looked concerned about Shawn being his coach. He shared with me his worries, “Will he still be my Daddy then?” He was so afraid he was losing Shawn as his Daddy. These are real concerns of a four year old.
13. Abby says as I’m tucking her into bed, “You so pretty. You so cute.”
14. During a cartoon or television show you can hear Dylan, “One.” A little while later, “Two. That’s two.” I figured out he counts the “bad” words on the show! He considers many words to be bad!
15. Abby likes to sing a song about herself, “Abby’s sooo cute! Sooo adorable!”
16. We found Abigail bribing Cody and Anna for hugs and kisses from her. One day Cody asked for a kiss, and she responded, “Three cents.” They seriously began to pay her throughout the day. Shawn and I ended that eventually; Abigail was getting money hungry! Ha!
17. When Dylan found out Aunt Tracy was expecting a baby, he said, “If it’s a boy, I’m outta here!” He is rooting for a girl!
18. Anna needed Shawn to help her with something. She must have wanted help right away because she came into the kitchen about the time he gave me a hug. She said, “Dad…Oh, great! You’re hugging, and when you hug, you hug a loong time!” I don’t know that that is true, (Ha!) but I am glad to know that is how she views our relationship.
19. I didn’t plan to end on a sad note, but I didn’t want to forget this. Abigail crawled into bed on a Saturday morning with Shawn and me. She was so surprised to find Shawn home because he leaves for work before she gets up. She obviously doesn’t understand weekends off. The two of them snuggled for awhile. She was so delighted, “Daddy’s home!” We decided to surprise the kids the night before with cinnamon bagels from St. Louis Bread Company, so Shawn got up and began putting his shoes on, so he could drive to pick up the bagels before Cody, Anna, and Dylan woke up. As soon as Abby saw Shawn’s shoes being put on, she burst out into huge sobs. I don’t think I have EVER heard Abigail cry so hard. Shawn scooped her up, and she was literally gasping for air, shoulders shaking as she tried to breathe. She was so distraught. She thought for sure he was leaving for work. He assured her he wasn’t, but it took awhile to calm and comfort her. She literally clung to him. Shawn had been getting up around four in the morning (the company was short programmers) and working until five or six, so he could be home in time to spend time with the kids and make it to Anna’s gymnastics each week. He gives so much time and love to the kids, and I made him pause that morning while Abigail was hugging him tightly, and I said, “Look..this is how much you are loved!” I don’t think Shawn can ever know fully how much we appreciate him and how much he sacrifices for all of us. We adore him!
These pictures are just random photos taken over the past several months…
