Conversations Around The House

Sitting at the kitchen table with Gracie, going over homework.

Me: how as school today?

Gracie: Fine.

Me: Who did you play with at recess?

Gracie: Well, (she sighed) the first recess, I chased boys....

I laughed out loud, stopping Gracie mid sentence.

Me: You were chasing boys!? (I smiled, verifying what I had just heard)

Gracie: Yessss! It was all Dalton's fault. He said, 'hey, watch out for Gracie'. Like I was even doing anything. I was just standing there. And......" (she rattled on with her story. and I just giggled inside)

Me: So what did you do when you caught the boys? (a legitimate questions I think)

Gracie explained it but I didn't quite understand. Something about flicking their hand.

Me: (laughing) Well, you better not let your Daddy hear about you chasing boys. (I winked)

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The girls and I were at Caleb's baseball game. Gracie and Suzie ran around, playing with friends, while I watched the game. Gracie tattled a few times on Suzie for being mean to the other kids. I kept my eye on Suzie and noticed her kick one kid, and smack another one on the arm. I called Suzie over and told her to play nice. She said she was just teasing with those kids and she wasn't trying to be mean. I told her to stop hitting the other kids and then sent her off to play. I let it drop for the moment because I understood where she was coming from. I liked to play feisty at her age too...

As I got Suzie ready for bed that night, I had a little talk with her about how her actions could hurt her friends. I ran through the obvious, "Would you like it if one of your friends hit or kicked you", and the "No one will want to play with you if you keep hitting them"

Suzie: (arguing her side) Yeah, but those other kids were laughing (when she played rough)

Me: well that's not nice those kids laughed when you were being mean to the other kids

Suzie: but I made them laugh

Me: Ok, so if you want to make people laugh, try and come up with some other stuff to be funny.

Suzie: But I don't know any other stuff. I'm only 5 (she threw her hands out to the side) My brain is still weak.

This, of course, made me laugh.

Suzie: (with a scowl on her face) Stop laughing at me!

Me: But that's the whole point (still laughing). That was funny and it made me laugh!

I moved my head down so Suzie and I were eye-to-eye. Suzie smiled back at me and rolled her eyes a little. I kissed her head and sent her to the kitchen for a bedtime snack.

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The other night we had a big storm roll though and it kept us up most of the night. We had four hours of wind and rain, thunder booms, lightening flashes, and power outages. We moved from our beds upstairs, to the basement, to my bed, to Suzie's bed, to a make-shift bed on the floor... it was a long night to say the least...

As I was getting Gracie tucked into her bed on the floor, she looked at me and said, "Well, I guess its true what they say. In like a lion, out like a lamb."

I looked at her kinda of funny. I didn't know she knew that phrase.

Gracie shrugged her shoulders and followed up her statement, "At least that's the story I was told"

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