One of the funnest things about having kids is just listening to them. Ellie, our three year old is at an age where she’s more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Of course she’s more work than one too.
At her older sister Grace’s birthday party, kids apparently thought it would be a great game to jump off the top of the girls’ bunk-beds. Ellie won, her prize was a broken ankle.
This was pretty traumatic for her. She was afraid to let a doctor pull on her leg. She was intimidated by the x-ray machine. She’s been afraid to put any weight at all on it, even though Doctor Crabb said that it was a minor, stable fracture to a small, minor bone and that she’d be walking on it within a few days.
The first few days of her convalescence she had to be carried from room to room, like a princess on a palanquin.
Of course, she’s not one to be kept down. By Wednesday she snuck past her Great Grandma who was babysitting and undertook crawling all the way next door to visit our neighbor Beverly Lorenzen. Not just across the yard, mind you. But down to the sidewalk and a half a block around the corner. Bev was worried that the poor thing would hurt her knees. I tell Mike and Bev that Ellie is Dennis the Menace and they’re the
Monday morning I drove her in to have Dr. Crabb examine her X-Rays to see if he needed to put a cast on. The thing about three year olds that will drive you insane are the questions.
As we walked out to the van, I noticed that she was chomping away on something. If it was gum, I wanted to make sure that it wound up in the trash and not on the upholstery. What are you chewing? I asked her.
“MMMm BOOGERS! Ha ha ha, mmmm, yummy!”
Oh gross, honey, don’t do that. That’s yucky, besides it will make you sick.
“Da-aad, it’s paper. I was just drawing and wanted to see what it tasted like.” Good grief, spit that out. Come on, lets go.
“Why are we taking the van?” Because you’re too little to ride in the pickup all the way to
“Why don’t we take the car?” Because Mommy took the car to work.
“Why’d Mommy drive the car?” Why not? This is my answer of last resort, it usually stops her.
Finally we were on our way. “Why are we driving?”
Uh…would you rather walk to
“Look, Daddy, it’s SO beautiful. Look at all the colors. I can see a million miles. Are the cows having breakfast?”
Later, in the examination room we had a minor disagreement. I told her that she was sitting on a table. She called it a bed.
“Why would I be on a TABLE?” SO I can eat your toes! I warned her. “Da-aaad, I’m not lunch!” she replied.
After several minutes of waiting, I noticed that she had her thumb in her mouth. Neither she or Grace ever did this, the closest they got was the “blankie” that Ellie carries everywhere. So I asked her, why are you sucking on your thumb?
“’Cause our friend Jesus is in there…”
Needless to say this threw me for a loop. What in the heck does that mean, I thought and gave her a quizzical look.
“Dad- He lives in our hearts- I was just kidding! Mmmm, tastes like hotdogs, yummy!” she teased me.
It was at this point that I decided that I’d better start writing down some of the crazy things she says, so I pulled out a little 4x3 note pad that I carry with me. Naturally she couldn’t let that go.
“Why are you writing in your notebook?” Why not?
Driving around town she made an observation.
“Why does everybody have red pickups like Grandpa? Everybody only has red or blue trucks- only I like PINK!”
Oh yeah? When you grow up you can get a pink pickup.
“PINK’S MY FAVOWITE COLOW!”
Yeah, well if you want to be a farmer like Grandpa, you’ll have to talk to John Deere about getting you a pink tractor! This must have struck her funny bone because it threw her into a fit of giggles. In fact, a few limes during the day if I wanted to hear her laugh all I had to do was to look at her and say the words Pink Tractor!
She asked for chicken nuggets for lunch, so I was all set for KFC, but she demanded that I take her to Burger King. I know that this is because they have a playground. I reminded her of her injury and told her that she wouldn’t be able to play there. What’s more, I told her that I wasn’t going to carry her in, she’d have to lean on me and hop. At this she told me that we should just go through the drive-through.
But she wasn’t too disappointed, at least her spirits didn’t show it. Even incapacitated she enjoyed the drive home and the beautiful weather. What a sunny disposition. Sometimes she makes me wish I was three years old again.
And she’s nothing if not observant-“Now the cows are having dinner.”
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