The hour was ending as Ms. Sheila made her way from table to table admiring the work of her three to five year olds in Little Learners. As she approached Amelia’s favorite spot, the sensory bin, Amelia opened fire, peppering her with one question after another. Ever attentive, Ms. Sheila attempted to answer each query, …
Me, Myself & I
The house is quiet today but I am not alone. Ever faithful Jake, our Velcro Dane, haunts my steps, following me from room to room, even to the bathroom. He lumbers to the garage door as I fold laundry, pacing, hoping in vain for an early dinner. I take him out and he chases a …
Misled
My room was dark as midnight before seven. I fought sleep as I lounged across my bed, knees folded to hide the light from my phone screen while I read through my daily Bible reading plan. My four grandchildren slept soundly in their respective places as my daughter, in the adjoining room, brewed us decaf …
Eager To Please
“Who wants to…?” Before I got any further, Thomas and Amelia dropped what they had been doing and raced for the kitchen. “I want to do it, Yolly!” Amelia’s words were interrupted by Thomas’s. “You did it last time. It’s my turn.” “No I didn’t.” Whether it’s carrying a piece of cardboard to the recycling …
Exponentially
What do you get when you inflate one splash pad and add water and two hundred ball pit balls? Happy grandchildren!Thomas, Amelia, Timothy and Ezra enjoyed hours of fun-soaked outdoor play. At one point, Timothy lounged on the edge of the inflated surround mindlessly collecting balls he had been tossing out a moment earlier. When …
Good Night
Three of our four grandchildren were soundly asleep within minutes. Timothy fell asleep during prayers. We had read our Bible story and stood together under the projection of our new verse from Isaiah as it rotated on the ceiling above our heads. Before I darken the projector, I escort each child to his or her …
Earth Moving
“Amelia dug up a worm,” Thomas announced as I turned from pushing Timothy and Ezra in the swings to be sure my mulch bed was still intact. They knelt in front of their toy excavators, eyes trained on something between them that I could not see. “Are you sure it’s a worm?” I asked, wary …
How Do You Love?
“Can you find the baby puffer fish?” Amelia asked Ezra after bringing him one of his favorite lift-the-flap board books and climbing up into the chair at the kitchen table next to his. Valentina had already fed the kids and we were finally sitting down to our lunch. Ezra had been clingy all morning and …
Hellbent on Destruction
“Tell me what you know about Daniel and the lions,” Amelia prompted in her best Ms. Sheila voice as she held up Ezra’s story Bible for me to see. As soon as she joined Thomas for monthly Little Learners classes at the zoo, Amelia quickly adopted the teacher role when she is pretending. She was …
Want or Need
With a pair grandsons tottering into the twos at roughly the same time, my daughters have each determined to nix nap time when at all possible. Some days, naps are still essential but days are measured on a case by case basis. Four children under five is more manageable when the weather is mild and …
A Fitting Reply 