Sweet Memories, These Kids Were So Much Fun

These kids were so much fun. They still are of course, but …

July 6, 1994: “A couple nights ago, Rebecca wanted to wear some long pants that she doesn't wear often to bed, and Murray said she could. She said, “These are my work pants. I work with toys."

July 8, 1994:  Sarah had never seen the door open that leads from the back yard to the garage.  She came down the stairs from the deck, walked toward the open door, and said, "Is that a car in there -- is that OUR car?"

July 11, 1994:  Today Both girls were crying.  Rebecca had fallen down a couple stairs and bumped her nose, and Sarah was just Sad, crying over and over again.  I was hugging them both and trying to comfort them.  I told Caleb that the girls were both sad and asked what I could do to make them feel better.  He said, "Kiss those guys."  I said that I was hugging and kissing them, but they were still sad, and I asked him what else I could do for them.  He said, "Just put them down."

July 12, 1994:  Last night at church, Murray said Caleb climbed up on the stage, and reached to the top of the piano.  He said to Murray, "Daddy, help me get up here."

Earlier today Sarah said something that Rebecca did not feel was true.  Rebecca said, "She likes to lie sometimes." I said, "You like to lie sometimes, too, don't you?"  She said, "No, I just do."

July 14, 1994:  A few weeks ago we were in a restaurant, and Murray brought the kids some gummy bears candy.  Rebecca asked what kind of animal it was.  Murray said it was a gummy snake.  A lady at the next table, doubtless feeling sorry for this ignorant father, said, "It's a bear; you're supposed to know everything, Daddy, don't you know that?"  Rebecca told her, "My Daddy was just teasing; he's a goofhead."

July 27, 1994:  Rebecca was washing her hands in the bathroom the other day, standing on the floor.  I asked why she wasn't standing on their little stool.  She said, "Because I can reach; I'm learning how to be so big."

August 3, 1994:  Sarah is still a little nervous about our new kitty, Rhoda.  We were sitting out on the deck a few minutes ago, after Rhoda had just come home from being away for a while.  Sarah said she wanted the kitty to go back to the neighbors'.  I asked if she wanted to come in the house with me.  She said, "No."  I asked if she wanted to stay out and play with the kids.  She said, "No."  I asked, "What do you want to do?"  Nervously she replied, "I don't know."

August 9, 1994:  Yesterday Caleb wanted some help with something and said to Rebecca, "Rebecca, will you do me a favorite?"

August 10, 1994: This afternoon, I was helping Sarah get dressed, and I bent down to kiss her.  She put her arms around me and said, "I can't let go."

August 11, 1994:  Last night we ate at a restaurant, and because the girls had had shots just before then, we promised the kids dessert.  We ordered ice cream, and as we waited for it Rebecca said, "You scream, I scream, we all scream," finishing at the top of her lungs, "for ice cream!"  I was so taken aback I spit out a french fry.

August 15, 1994: “Yesterday, I held my hand out to Sarah at the table.  She took my hand and said, "Dear God, Thank You for Mommy, amen."

Sarah covered her face with a box yesterday and said something like, "I can't find me."  I said I couldn't find me either.  She took the box from her face and said, "There we are."

This morning I gave the kids each a "present" from a stash of extra toys I have--Caleb a cooshball, Sarah a little doll, and Rebecca a stuffed bear dressed in lace and ribbons.  A few minutes later Rebecca came downstairs and said to me, "You gave us all these presents, so I think you're a present."

August 16, 1994:  Sometimes we'll just be sitting around, and out of the blue Caleb will say, "Mommy, I like this new house." or "Mommy, I really love the Holy Spirit."

While I was fixing lunch today I told the kids they could have pickles on their sandwiches if I could get the new jar of pickles open.  Caleb said, "You just turn that little lid on the jar, then it opens up."

     Today Rebecca told me they were all hiding in her room from the "get-its" and the "go-gos" (spoken with a kind of guttural GK sound).  She said these are animals that sting the kids.  I asked who told her about them, and she said nobody, that they had "thinked them out."

August 17, 1994:  Today Caleb, Sarah and I were talking in the hall after naps.  Suddenly Rebecca's voice called kind of sadly from her room, "I was sleeping with my eyes closed and being quiet, and you guys waked me up."    

At lunch the kids were asking about lions, what color they were, and stuff like that.  I said I didn't know, that they would have to ask Daddy.  Rebecca said, "No, because then Daddy will tease me."

Later Rebecca was following me around, and she said, "I always want to be with you."  I said, "Me, too."  She said, "You want to be with yourself?"