May 11 – “I could use some help here”

I could use some help here.  I am beginning to get apprehensive about the middle part of my day today.  Chris and Mom have a Wednesday Club luncheon in Texas City, so they leave the house around 10:30.  No, I don't mind being alone.  It's just that I won't be.  Cailyn is scheduled to arrive around ten so her Mom can take a pharmacology final exam that begins at noon.  That means from 10:30 or so until April finishes her test and post test celebrations I have to come up with activities for a two year old … girl.    If it was Jachin all I would have to do is go outside and play his latest creative version of baseball for hours on end.  And Micah and Zakary would be happy watching a movie the whole time.  I think I could get away with horsing around with Caleb for a few hours.  He likes on-the-edge stuff like getting tossed in the air and running with the dogs.    But what can one possibly do with a two year old girl for that long?  She usually takes a nap in the afternoon, but that's not until an hour or so after lunch.  And last time she was here I fell asleep before she did.  She crawled into the little crib thing we have set up for Josiah and latched herself into a bouncy seat we had stored in there.  Her cries for Nani are what woke me.  After I released her she took off for the outermost parts of the universe.  Chris retrieved her and brought her back.    And lunch will be another story.  My plan there is to set out some food on a low level table so she will have access to it as she runs back and forth.  What food?  Good question.  She ate some chicken yesterday.  Maybe some green beans and corn.  Maybe some peanut butter crackers.  Or fruit.  Or pop tarts.  Or a frozen waffle.  Or some candy.  I'll think of something.   Now she does enjoy being outside.  Taking walks.  Swinging on the makeshift swing hanging from our deck.  Rocking in the chairs on the front porch.  Searching for bugs under rocks, as long as one doesn't get on her.  She doesn't handle that well.  Makes it tough when the flies invade.  We are desperately trying to convince her that she is bigger than they are, so all she has to do is say, "Shoo fly."  I am also desperately hoping she never sees me when a yellow jacket is in the vicinity.  I'm extremely allergic to them, so I usually run away, screaming like a girl.  Wait.  She's a girl.  Maybe that's how we can connect.   Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."   Father, I don't even understand my wife after 36 years, so I really don't understand little girls.  I hope it's enough that I really do love the both of them.  And so do you.  Amen.