The Little Things

When you are a stay at home mom with three small children, you don't get out much. At least I don't. If you are my mom, you are thinking "You go all the time...I never went anywhere," but in comparison with lots of my friends and neighbors, we are real homebodies. And when you are at home all day, almost every day, you begin to appreciate the little things. If you are always out and about and have lots of excitement in your life, stop reading now. None of this will be even remotely cute, funny or interesting. Actually, you may be bored out of your skull and still find it mind-numbingly un-interesting because after all, these are my kids and who honestly gives a hoot about someone else's kids?
(For the record, these are all from yesterday and they all involve Avery. Not because I think she's cuter than the other two, but she is frankly, a better conversationalist and therefore, we have more conversations which can be considered funny. Reese is hilarious, but it's mostly because she copies everything that Avery says and she says words wrong and acts silly. But you gotta see her stuff on tape, or it loses it's hilarity. Rhett's funny too, but only because he's Big Tuna and he eats and grunts all day...which is surprisingly, only funny to his dad and I.)


This happened yesterday...
Avery: Mom, I found your beer shirt in the backyard.

Me: Beer shirt?

Avery: Yeah, you know...your beer shirt.

Me: I don't think I own any shirts with beer on them?

AVery: NO, Mom, not a shirt for you, a shirt for your beer!

Me: Huh?



Well, duh! Of course! It's a beer shirt. Not funny to you? It only gets worse. Stop reading now.



Last night, we had a slumber party night. Sometimes this means all five of us in our king-sized bed, but last night, we had a movie conflict, so Reese and Daddy went to the girls' bed to watch Enchanted, and Avery and I went to the big bed for (gag) Batman. Rhett was the Lone Ranger because he doesn't care about movies and we don't appreciate him crawling on our faces while we watch Batman. Anyway, I turned of Batman around 10 o'clock so I could watch Bill O'Reilly...a commercial came on for bagels...I looked at Avery and said "That looks good, doesn't it?"
Avery: Oh yeah, Mom, I'm starving.
Me: I'm hungry too...should we go get a bagel?
Avery: Mom, it's nighttime and we're in bed. We can't have a bagel!
Me: Who says?
Avery: (laughing) Can we really?
Me: Sure...just don't tell anyone. And we have to be really quiet.

Avery bursts out in hysterical laughter, I tell her to wait there and I'll bring back the snacks. A few seconds later, I hear the pitter patter of little feet and there she is, covering her mouth as she giggles. (Sidenote: Is there anything more precious than the giggle of a 5-year-old little girl? I think not.)
She said, and I quote, "Mom, I'm so excited, I feel like my heart is beeping out of my chest!"

All over a bagel in the bed. How's that for appreciating the little things?



Avery: Mom, if I eat lots of butter will it make me big and strong?
Me: Well, not exactly. Butter isn't healthy for you.
Avery: (Exasperated, as usual) Why do you let me eat butter then?
Me: Because I sometimes let you eat stuff that isn't healthy just because it tastes good, like candy or chips or butter. I just don't let you eat too much of it.
Avery: Does butter make you fat?
Me: Why would you say that?
Avery: Well, look at my huge belly. It's fat.
Me: I don't think so
Avery: Yeah, it is.
Me: Do you think fat is a good thing or a bad thing?
Avery: Oh, it's bad
Me: Ok, fat isn't necessarily a good thing, because it can be hard for your heart to work right if you have too much fat. A little fat is ok. But I don't ever want you worrying about being fat. Mommy feeds you lots of healthy stuff and I make sure you don't have too much junk. And you are really active and play and exercise, so you don't have a thing to worry about, ok?
Avery: I know, but my belly is fat.
Me: Ok, so do you think your belly is bad?
Avery: No. My cheeks are fat too, sort of.
Me: Do you think your cheeks are bad?
Avery: No way, I think they are cute.
Me: So you think your belly and cheeks are fat, but not in a bad way.
Avery: Yeah, that's what I think. They are kind of fat, but I still think I look good.

Sheesh...how many more of these conversations do you think we'll have to have before she's oh, 30 years old? I never say the word fat in front of her and I don't allow her to say it...but she's still getting it from somewhere...I didn't necessarily find the entire above conversation funny, but I sure did think it's cute that she thinks she has some "sorta fat" spots, but likes them anyway. You go, girl! :)

P.S. She informed me that my belly is also fat because "it's so jiggly" but it's funny, not bad.


If you have time today, write down one "little thing" that you notice (not necessarily your kids, but they do provide easy material!) and send either through the comments section or to my email dodiajackson@yahoo.com
I'll share them all next week (without your name, if you choose)! :)