Monday, January 11, 2010

Ben Learns Something Important

this morning as i am dropping the kids off at day care, Ben shows me two little pebbles. He needs to keep them safe. and i recommend he keep them in his pants pocket so that he knows where they are at.with a little help, he gets the pebbles in his pocket, and off he goes.

tonight as we are getting on pajamas, Tanya throws his pants in the dirty laundry, a couple moments later, Ben starts crying about his rocks. I pull out his pants, and sure enough these pebbles are still in the same pocket from this morning. i put them up on the hope chest, telling him to leave them there, picturing him going to bed with them, and losing them in the middle of the night. no worries, right?

we don't even have his pants on before he starts saying that April just ate one of his rocks. April looks innocent enough, but hey, she's a dog. The pebbles are missing from the hope chest, and Ben only has one in his hand. At least that is one down, i thought.

about an hour later, we hear on of the kids just crying. after a bit, Ben shows up in the TV room trying to say something. I couldn't make anything out, but Tanya saw him pointing to his nose, and asked if Emma had hit him in the nose. He cried no, and started to try and explain it again, and i quickly thought of the worst case scenario with the props at hand, and asked if he had the rock stuck up his nose. to which he cried yes.

the next ten minutes was spent with us shing a very bright flashlight up his nose, trying to pull out a snot ball with a pair of hemeostats, and trying to calm Ben down enough to get somewhere.

Finally we tell Ben that the rock is going to have to stay there because he won't let us get it out. we sit him up, i try a pat him on his back, thinking that maybe i can dislodge it like he's choking or something and have images in my head of some 80 year old Ben talking about how he's never been able to breathe thru his left nostril, and how that kept him out of the war,....

Tanya asks him to blow his nose, she puts the tissue up to his face, and he breathes in a couple times, and then he coughs or sneezes or something, and out falls the pebble. faster then Ben could reach for it, Tanya already scooped it up, and i presume either threw it away, or fed it to April.

Rocks tend to be between a couple thousand to several million years old. this one was rather small, so im guessing it was older. i sure hope that was the most interesting thing that ever happened to it, because i am going to remind Ben of it every couple years or so so that he remembers.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

James Shows his Colors

Last august-september, i set up the tent out side to let it air out a bit, and let the kids play in it. i got lazy and didn't take it down over the weekend like i intended.

when we left to work and daycare in the morning, i told the boys how windy it would be that day and hoped that the kiddy pool wouldnt blow away.

after i had the kids and we were pulling up to the house, we noticed that the tent was being pulled by the wind, which was getting pretty gusty and was only being held down by some strings that were caught on our pear tree.

James was the most adamant about saving it.

i pulled into the garage, and started going about unbuckling the kids as quickly as i could, so i could rush out there to save the tent. after i had everyone free from the car, i started to try and account the location of my kids and couldnt find James. this upset me because i didnt know where he was, and i would have to try and find him before i could go out and start my work. it was about then that i heard a cry of help. i went out the back door of the garage, and found James holding on the the swimming pool with all of his strength. the wind had the pool and was trying to pull it out of his hands, and it was so strong that James could not walk with it.

i grabbed the pool and threw it in the garage and james and i ran over to the tent. i untangled the rain guard, and had james sit on it. i then quickly rolled up the main body of tent and made to grab the rain gaurd from James so we could run back to the house, and he stubburnly held on to it.

so together, carrying our burdens, we ran to the garage to throw the tent in a safe place.

James was crying hard, but he wouldn't let go of the pool. he was scared, but he wouldn't let go. i believe that bravery is standing against the onrushing terror, placing yourself between that which you love and that which would take it away. no matter that you would rather not; scared, sobbing, and afraid, it is not a question of how you pertain yourself, but that you stand. and that you stay.

James showed his colors that day. and they were brilliant.