Tall-Tism, Small-Tism, & “Down-Down”

I worked for the SC Dept. of Disabilities for 8 years, and I still have friends there. From time to time, Sarah will overhear a phone conversation with one of them, and she’ll hear us throwing out the names of some disabilities. I also have a cousin whose baby has Down’s Syndrome, so she understands some about that. Loren, my youngest, shows some signs of having a mild case of autism. She’s going to be evaluated later this month, and I‘ve been talking some with family and friends about it. Sarah’s little brain is like a sponge. She just soaks up everything she hears. When we were in the grocery store yesterday, we saw Frankie Weaver, a man that attends my “home church” where most of my mom’s family goes. Sarah has seen him several times when she’s gone to church with my mom, so she recognized him. By the way, Frankie is the uncle of our hometown pride and joy, country singer Josh Turner. So here’s a shout out to Josh Turner, his family (including those down here in Hannah, SC) and all his fans out there. GO JOSH!! We’re so proud of you!!

Anyway, Frankie is REALLY tall. He’s like 6 ft. 4 in. When you’re 6 (Sarah‘s age), that seems like a GIANT. I met Frankie when I was 8, and he was the tallest man I’d ever seen in person. I met him when his sister was my teacher in 3rd grade. When we were loading our groceries in the car, I was telling Sarah how I knew Frankie, how he was Josh’s uncle, etc. Of course we talked about how tall he was. She piped up and said, “Mama, he must have TALL-tism (sounds like autism.) I had to snicker. She just kills me the way she puts things together. A few days later we saw something on TV with a midget, or to be politically correct, a person with dwarfism. Sarah said, “Mama, he must have SMALL-tism.” I shook my head and laughed.

Another night she was telling me how my uncle let her name his cat’s kittens. She named one of them “Down-Down.” Why, you ask? Well what a silly question! The kitten’s eyes are kind of slanted, so he looks like he has Downs Syndrome. I thought I’d fall out the chair laughing at her.

Cheap Kitchen Makeover

Loren has decided that she likes bologna. If the refrigerator is open, and she wants a snack, she goes for the drawer with the meat and cheese in it. She pulls out whatever she’s in the mood for. Usually it’s cheese, but today the bologna won out. I cut it up into smaller pieces for her, and let her feed herself, which Miss Independent prefers anyway. I was on the computer, and I glanced over at her standing in the kitchen. She was taking pieces of bologna and sticking them to the wall. I guess she was conducting an experiment to determine whether they would stick to the wall or not. They did indeed. Either that, or she figured the kitchen needed a cheap makeover. Look out HGTV! I’ve got a creative one on my hands!

Bath Time Funny:
Don’t Drown Your Kids!

Tonight when the girls were in the tub, I washed Sarah’s hair. She’s old enough to wash it herself, but sometimes she just wants Mama to do it for her. This was one of those times. I kept telling her to tilt her head back so I could rinse her hair. She’s 6 now, so she knows the drill. She wouldn’t cooperate, so I just doused her one time, thinking she’d get the point. She looked at me, just as serious as anything, and said, “It’s important not to drown your kids when you wash them." I had to shake my head and laugh.

Salt Yourself

Tonight I glanced over and saw Loren standing in the kitchen. She had taken her shirt off. I tell ya…...it’s getting harder and harder to keep clothes on that child. She’d rather be naked if given the option. Anyway, she’s standing there with the salt shaker in her hand, leaning backwards, sprinkling salt on her tummy. Don’t ask me why. I guess she figures everything is a little better with salt on it, huh? Maybe she'd have a "tasty tummy???"

Banana Imposters & Other Fake Foods

Sarah has all kinds of accessories for her toy kitchen, including “fake food.” Loren has been fooled by these food “imposters” quite a few times. She has tried fake hot dogs, cucumbers, and ice cream. It’s so funny to watch the expression on her face when she bites into something, and then realizes it ain’t the “real deal.“ But this next story takes the cake…….or should I say bananas in this case?

Loren LOVES bananas. She likes just about any kind of fruit, or any kind of FOOD for that matter….but bananas are her favorite fruit. She would eat 3 or 4 a day if I let her. If it were possible to turn into to a monkey from eating too many bananas?????? Well, Loren would be a little monkey by now. This child is ALWAYS hungry. I’m thankful that she eats healthy…..lots of veggies and fruits. I have no problem getting her to eat a balanced meal.

She was up at 7:30 Saturday morning, and hungry….like usual. Sometimes she will swipe a banana from the basket and bring it to me so I can peel it for her. Well, this morning she got fooled. Before I was even out of bed, Loren scurried to the kitchen and brought back what she THOUGHT was a banana. She likes to feed me sometimes, and she’s good about sharing her snacks. She’s so sweet. So she’s trying to give me a bite of her “banana,” so I pretend to eat and say “Mmmmm….good! Yummy for my tummy!” like I usually do, but I’m giggling the whole time because I know something Loren doesn’t……..this “banana” is NOT a fruit…….it’s a VEGETABLE. She swiped a couple of yellow banana peppers off the kitchen counter, thinking they were bananas. TOO funny. You should have seen the look on her face when she bit the tip off that pepper! HILARIOUS!! She immediately realized this was NOT a banana. She spit it out before she even chewed it any. Then I had to get up and get her a REAL banana. That night before bed I realized she laid that tiny piece of pepper on the nightstand, and I had to laugh all over again when I saw it. Bon appetite, ya’ll!!

Reindeer Sighting

As some of you know, I live in the South. No, it’s not winter here, and even when it is, we don’t usually see reindeer down here in South Carolina. But I spotted a reindeer today…..came running right through my LIVING ROOM! This was an AMAZING reindeer, people. First off, I know for sure it was a female, yet I saw the antlers plain as day. Yes, I know only the males grow horns. And these were special horns, mind you……they were red and had flashing lights! No, I did NOT start hitting the egg nog early. And I have NOT recently been abducted by aliens….at least not that I recall. And no, I do NOT spoke those “funny cigarettes.“ Anyway, I digress.

People, this reindeer was about 3 feet tall and could stand upright on her hind legs….must’ve been about 40 pounds. She also had dark, curly hair and blue eyes. Yes, her name is Loren. Snicker. Somewhere in all the chaos in this house, Little Loren found the flashing reindeer antlers, put them on her head, and proceeded to run all through the house. TOO CUTE!! Sorry I couldn’t get a picture folks….this reindeer was just moving TOOOOO fast!

First Day of First Grade

Today was the first day of school. Sarah is in first grade with Ms. Daley, whom I am pleased to say I’ve heard good things about. Sarah went sporting her new polka-dot book back (filled with all her school supplies), her new outfit that “Nana Jo-Jo” (her great aunt and adopted 2nd grandma) bought her, and her new hairstyle. We just cut it in a little “bob“ and it really looks cute on her. We started the year off right by praying on the way to school. Lord, please help us to have a good year. Below are a few pictures.

"The Outfit"


"The 'Do"


" "The Rockin' Backpack"

Febreeze

I love Febreeze. It’s good stuff, man. I use it on everything………well, almost everything……everything EXCEPT the dog. That’s where my darling Sarah comes in. Yes, Sarah has found yet another use for this fabulous product. I caught her this morning chasing the dog around the house trying to “Febreeze” her. Of course the dog was not at all happy about that…but Sarah thought it was a good idea. I guess she figured it was easier and faster than giving the dog a bath. You gotta give her credit for creativity here. She has a knack for learning about something new and then taking the information and applying it to something else. I guess the poor doggie turned out to be Sarah’s guinea pig this time.

Shopping Online

My little Loren, who is almost 3, thinks she is a computer whiz. Course, they do start early these days. She gets up there and pecks and clicks like nobody’s business. She hops in the computer chair every time the PC is booted up and I’m not at the keyboard……and often even if I am. The other day Sarah, my 6-year old, walked into the living room and saw Loren flipping up all kinds of screens on the computer. Sarah said, with an authoritative tone, “Loren, you BETTER not be shopping online!!!” Too cute!

God Brings a Storm

We had a storm last night, and my 6-year old, Sarah, nearly had a cow. We had lots of wind and rain……..over 4 inches. At one point when the rain slacked off we decided to take a look at the damage in our yard. I commented on how I hadn’t seen water sit in our yard like that since Hurricane Hugo in ‘88. Sarah said, in a panic, “But God promised He wouldn’t ever flood the earth again!“ I had to laugh. I explained how we were not having a flood, it was just a bad storm, yada, yada, yada. My mother interjected her 2 cents, explaining that "the Good Lord was doing His work."

Then we looked at the limbs in the yard, the shingles down off the house, the plants blown off the porch, the rocking chair blown over, and toys strewn about the back yard. Sarah's bike, which was under the shed before the storm, was now about 6 ft. from the shed.......still standing, thanks to the training wheels I suppose. The girls' kiddie picnic table was blown from under the carport. I don't know where it would have ended up if Mama's truck hadn't stopped it. There were limbs and debris in the yard far from the trees.

With a hand on her hip, and an authoritative tone in her voice, Sarah looked around and said, “How dare God mess up our yard like that!” I cracked up over that one. She said it almost like she thought that since HE made the mess, HE ought to have to clean it up!!! We had to have a little pow-wow about how God can do whatever He pleases, cause He’s in charge….plus the good that came from the storm was that we REALLY needed the rain. We live in the country and there are lots of farmers in our area. Plus we may get a new roof out of the deal. Yeah, there was that much damage. Fortunately, there was only one room in the house where there was visible water damage on the ceiling. We're very blessed that we didn't have any damage to our vehicles. There were limbs all around my car, some pretty large. I told Mama there must have been an angel with large wings sheltering my car from the storm. I’m trying to teach Sarah to look for the good things that come out of life’s “storms.” I don’t want her to grow up with a “victim” mentality, like so many people these days seem to have. Romans 8:28 (“all things work together for good”) is one of my favorite verses in the Bible.

Well, folks, I'll stop now. I'm starting to have flashbacks of those videos you see on TV where the most ignorant Redneck amongst us manages to get on the news to tell all about the big hurricane we had. grin!