Tuesday, February 14, 2012

February 14 – “A Valentine’s Day Eve to remember”

 
 
We got confused not once but twice by things Cailyn said yesterday.  Nathan called and asked if we could babysit while he and April just got out of the house for a while.  They went to a movie.  Sounds like a simple date, but every little step toward normalcy for April is huge to us right now. 
 
So.  Chris told me about an interesting request made of her by Cailyn.  They were sitting on the couch reading books.  At one point, as Cailyn slid down Chris' legs to the floor, she got that "aha moment" look in her eye.  She turned toward Chris and said, "Let's do the toilet, Nani."  Now that's an unusual request.  Did she have to go to the bathroom?  Is that some kind of new dance move?  Chris asked, "What is toilet?"  Apparently it wasn't something that a three-year-old could adequately explain, so Cailyn simply announced that "Andy did it."  Thankfully, she soon realized that Chris just didn't get that one, so she moved on to something else.  Chris didn't forget, though.  When Mommy and Daddy came to pick her up she asked about Andy and the toilet.  Seems they were at a friend's house and the guys would lift their legs into the air so the kids could crawl under the "toll road."  Of course.  "Toilet."  "Toll road."  Close enough.
 
At "nap time" Cailyn and I were in her room "resting."  We read some books, but that did little to calm her down.  She simply wasn't ready to crash, unlike her DadDad.  But I held out gamely.  Suddenly she sat up as if remembering something crucial.  She pushed the little doll-sized rocking cradle over by the bed and started singing to the baby doll.  I didn't recognize the song at all, but I picked out the words "My way," interspersed among "Daddy and Mommy and Cailyn and Nani and DadDad and MeeMaw."  The song, however incomprehensible, was incredibly sweet, and I was captivated.  Until she asked me to sing with her.  I tried "Rock a bye baby," but she quickly nixed it.  "No, DadDad.  Not that one.  Do the other song."  I wracked my brains for another possibility.  Did I mention that I was already quite ready to take a nap?  Not much of a flurry if ideas there.  So I just dove right in with my own rendition of "My way.  My way.  My way.  Nani and DadDad.  My way.  Mommy and Daddy.  My way.  MeeMaw.  May way."  She listened, obviously evaluating, for a time before she cut in with a gentle prodding, "And Cailyn, DadDad."  Of course.  I continued, "My way.  Cailyn.  My way.  My way.  My way."  I guess the baby finally went to sleep out of boredom.  Cailyn put her finger to her lips and told me to "Be berry quiet now." 
 
We finally ended the pretense of rest time when she asked me to dance with her.  How could I refuse?  First I picked her up and started turning in circles, but that was not what she wanted.  She wanted show me some of her own moves.  So we joined hands and twirled and pranced down the hall to some of that granddad-granddaughter music we both could hear somewhere in our heads.  We got "the Look" from Nani when we swept past, but we were by then so taken in our revelry that we barely noticed.  A Valentine's Day Eve to remember.
 
Isaiah 61:11 says, "For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations."
 
Father, we could use some of that righteousness in our nation.  Maybe the praise will have to come up first.  Amen.

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