Like The Wind

Here's my baby---first place in her age group (4-9), ahead of all the other girls, and ahead of all the boys too.

There were a few moments in there when I wanted to stop and I KNOW Caroline did. At one point on a particularly long hill she said,

"Mommy, I have a stitch AND I'm hungry and they're combining to MAKE ME MISERABLE!"

"Do you want to stop and walk?" I asked.

"NO!" And she ran faster.

I could not be more proud of my little warrior. She inspires me.


I'm so proud of you, Caroline! And I loved running the Great Pumpkin Race with you.


Catching a falling leaf.

Now, She's Got The Idea

We're driving into the gym parking lot tonight when from the back seat:

"Mom?"

"Mm-hm?"

"You know what I wish?"

"You want to clean your room. You can't wait."

"Mom!"

"Um..ok. You hope I'll get you up early tomorrow morning so you can do your chores before school."

"MOM!"

"You wish that all elephants were named Irwin."

(evil glare through the rear view mirror)

"Ok...ok. What do you wish?"

"I wish that eating candy would give us big muscles and a healthy heart. And I wish that eating healthy stuff would make you really fat."

"But I like healthy stuff. I wouldn't want to gain 10 lbs. if I ate more than one salad a week."

"Well, I've got that problem covered. If you get fat, you can just go have a massage. While the massage is happening, you'd be getting thinner and thinner and healthier and healthier. You'd only need one hour per 5 pounds."

"Really...huh. But massages are pretty expensive. What if someone out there LOVES ONLY VEGETABLES, eats veggies and fruit for every meal, and has a lot of weight to lose? It might cost them a lot of money. What about those people if they can't afford it?"

"In my world there's massage insurance for anyone who wants it."


Folks, I just want to say that this kid?

This kid who just invented the world we all want?

The world where we get massages on a daily basis in order to combat all those salads we might eat?

This kid is mine.


..

And My Generation Ate Top Ramen

So Caroline came to me and Calvin this morning, and in a very business-like tone, hands on hips, back ram-rod straight, requested that we come up with a chart of her chores and a plan for allowance.

Oh yeah, I guess we knew this was coming. It's allowance time, Baby!

So after a quick glance at each other, we told her we'd talk it over, and come up with a schedule and a plan. After that we'd get back to her so the three of us could discuss it and finalize an arrangement we could all agree on.

"Good" she said, nodding approvingly, “Because I think it's time I started saving for my university."

(short pause while Calvin and I look at each other with pride)

"And Mega Gumballs" she finished, "I'm going to need plenty of those in college."