Friday, September 08, 2006

Innocence

Today I went to pick up the kids from the babysitter's after school, and when I got there, all three of my youngest and one other little girl were completely enthralled with something on the porch. They didn't notice me pull up the 1/4 mile drive way, didn't hear me jammin' to Israel Houghton, didn't hear me get out of the car or walk up...so I just listened to them talk for a while. Isn't it great to listen in on childhood conversations when they don't know you are there...especially while they are so innocent? So it went kind of like this:

Gabriel: Touches something I can't see on the side of the porch. Squeals in delight after drawing his finger back really quickly.
Evan: It's soft! And fuzzy!
Drew: This one is a bid (big) one. He's orange. I love him.
Evan: Yeah, this one is bidder (bigger) than the baby one over there.
Delaney (the little girl at the sitter's): Let me touch him again!
Gabriel: Touches it again and turns and grins at Evan with a huge cheesy smile.
Evan: When my mommy dets (gets) here, I am dowing (going) to ast (ask) her if I tan (can) teep (keep) him.
Drew: Yeah! My want to teep him, too!
Gabriel: Tapilwa! Squeal
Delaney sees me, and shows Evan.
Evan: MOMMY!! Tan we teep him??? PLEASE?!?!
Drew: Yeah! Mom! Pwease?
Gabriel: MOMMY!!

When Gabriel called out for me, he got up, and I could see that all this excitement and wonder had been over a very fuzzy orange catepillar...who was really booking it to escape them. After explaining that the catepillar needed to live outside because that's where his food was, etc, I told them it was time to go get in the van. Realizing that Delaney would still be left behind on the porch, as we began to walk away Drew turned back around and said:

Drew: Laney, tan (can) you tate (take) tare (care) of my tatepillar when I am gone, please?

There was something so innocent and sweet about his question. Kids. They are so great. After Delaney said she would, Evan turned back around and ran back to her, because at this point we had gotten 2/3 the way to the van. He hugged her and said, "Thank you!" I love it....I wish I could bottle up that innocence and "teep" it forever.

2 comments:

The Hutsells said...

I love it! I thought for sure it was a tiny kitten or something, I couldn't figure out what else could be orange?
I love listening to the conversations of my kids. It's so fun. Just the other night we were in the van going home and all four kids were talking, singing, or crying. Kris and I just looked at each other and smiled.
Even though our days are sometimes filled with chaos, I hope I never forget what life if like right now.

Jason Grate- Ordinary Extraordinary- Simple Stories of Lessons learned said...

I SO second Megan's last sentence. As the kids get older I feel more and more like this. I realize my baby stage is pretty much over and as glad as I am...it's just so sad!!! We need to bottle moments like these and never forget them!!