Bedtimes and Bellybuttons

Here's what this evening looked like:

We watched an episode of The Waltons - where Olivia feels her identity is lost in her roles as Wife and Mom.  She longs for the adventure and glamour of the Air Mail pilot whose plane landed in a nearby field.  I'm sure I can relate to her on this front - often I feel my days are filled with the mundane.

Sam did magic tricks for the kids, and they kept pleading with him to do it again so they could figure out the trick.

The kids played Apples to Apples with Sam.

We discussed what Caleb wants for his birthday breakfast tomorrow.  The verdict: Cherry muffins.

Andrew is so precocious and very cute these days.  His words are stilted and carefully pronounced.  Perhaps because of his language delays he has learned to speak in full, grammatically correct sentences - complete with appropriate expression.

"I want to give you a hug Mommy!"
"Will you read me another story Mommy?"

He loves to be read to but more than that loves to feel me near.  He is a happy child - quick to put aside momentary sadnesses and willing to move on to the next thing - even if the next thing is sleep.

So I tucked him in bed and went to say goodnight to Timo.  His eyes were wide as he showed me a tiny drop of blood where he got a scratch.  "Where does the blood go?" he asked, wondering aloud.  "It will dry and become hard, then it will fall off like crumbs on the floor - and there will be new skin underneath - your skin rebuilds itself beneath the scab.  Your skin is very important - it keeps all sorts of bad stuff from entering your body.  When you get a cut it could let bad germs into your body and make you sick.  God gave you skin to protect you," I replied.

"Especially on your feet!" he piped in, after my lengthy explanation.

My kids all know how much I love biology and will give them a quick lesson any chance I get.

Priscilla wandered up.
"Can you come say goodnight?"
"Sure I can."

So I plopped onto her bed - Caleb on one side, and Priscilla jumped on my back to give me a back rub.
"You're so soft Mommy.  Not like Daddy - he's bony."
"Well, I wouldn't mind being a bit more bony like Daddy."
"You're just right the way you are Mommy.  I can't imagine a skinny Mommy.  That would be funny."
Then Caleb sucked his cheeks in and started to giggle, "Yeah, I think Mommies are supposed to be squishy and soft."

And so they sabotaged all my weight-loss efforts.

There was a lot of excitement over Caleb's last evening being 10.
"I don't know what the big deal is about changing ages.  I mean, nothing is really different.," he said.

"Well, it means you're going to be different - eventually," I said.

He commented about wanting to stay young forever.  So I said, "In heaven you might be." When you bring up the subject of heaven to kids it is always fascinating where the conversation will go.

"I can't wait to meet Adam and Eve!  I wonder if they'll look really old!"
"Well, I can't wait to get a look at their bellies and see where there is no belly button!"
"Can you imagine when they had their first baby!?  'What's this thing hanging off his belly?  He must have something wrong!'  I wonder if God gave them instructions about what to do with the cord."
"Poor Eve.  All of humanity is probably gonna be really mad at her.  She's gotta be so embarrassed.  I'd be so humiliated.  Just 'cuz of her sin she messed up the world for everyone."
"Oh man!  Can you imagine if she hadn't sinned?  What an awesome world it would be?"
"No screeching little brothers."
"Andrew would sit in Church with his hands folded in his lap, listening to the sermon without wiggling."
"Yeah, that would be amazing."

And on it went...
I listened and giggled along with their innocent chatter and longed, together with them, for an unending youthfulness - both for them and for me!

And perhaps I have come a little closer to understanding what I happened to read earlier today in Mark 10.

"I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 

At the time I read it and thought, "I think I know what that means."  But after tonight I think I know a little more - where the knowing comes with the feeling, the laughing, the wonder and the innocence of children who long for perfection and a chance to inspect the tummies of the first man and woman.



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