Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Parkour

When I say that this kid "literally" climbs the walls. I "literally" mean it. Notice the bare feet. He usually does his best work barefooted. His dad does not like it. At all.
They argue about his shoe wearing on a regualr basis. I really don't care if he wears shoes or not. They're his feet.
So I sign him up for Parkour. It's all about getting in and out of tight spaces and maneuvering majestically from one place to another. It was going to be perfect. He waited impatiently for the class to start.
It came.
I watched him for a full hour jump into pits and figure out how to climb out. I saw him swinging from high bars. Climbing ladders on the walls. Jumping with his body nearly pressed all the way to the ground. Impressive.
I knew he was loving it.
We got in the car.
"I don't like it," he said.
I was in shock. Serious shock.
"What in the world are you talking about....you were amazing! That is exactly what you do at our house...but here you don't get in trouble."
"Oh...it's just that I thought I could come and do whatever moves I wanted to do. I have to actually, like, follow directions."

And that, my friends. Is Jake. In a nutshell. An adorable little nutshell.

Guess How Much I love You?

Luke was already sound asleep in his bed. Naomi begged me for just a few stories. It's hard to read in the dark.  Unfortunately for Naomi, I wasn't about to risk turning the light on and waking up a cranky three year old. She had an idea. A bright idea.
She grabbed the three inch flashlight her dad gave her. "We can use this," she enthusiastically reported. I couldn't decline.
We settled in under two layers of her comfy "cov covs."
Both of us slightly propped on two pillows. We pulled the "cov covs" close to our necks.
Kindof like camping.
Than I began reading the children's book, "Guess How Much I love you."
We eventually turned off the flashlight and sat in the darkness. Arms wrapped around each other.
Silent.
Naomi whispered, "it's impossible for you to know how much I love you."
"You have no idea how much I love you, I repeated.
I explained to her that one day she will have her own little "Ne Ne" and then she will realize just how much I love her. In fact, I continued, "I would do anything...anything for you."
She thought a minute.
Then she whispered, "even die for me?"
"Absolutely. No questions asked." I held her little body close.
"Oh wow," she responded.
We lay in silence for a mere few seconds.
She wrapped her arm around me tighter and said,
"I would die for you too, mom."
I held her as tight as I could.
I whispered, "you're a very special girl, Naomi. Very, very special."
And I meant it.