Some of the Best Words

Tonight, as I climbed into Phaedra’s bed to snuggle her before she went to sleep, she started ranting about never wanting to grow up. She said she always wanted to be a kid and she never wanted to be a grown up. She said, “I just want to stay a kid forever.”

I apologetically told her that wasn’t something I could control, that she would eventually grow up. I said, “But you still have a long time before you’re all grown up, so let’s just try to enjoy the time we have while you’re a kid.”

Because she got to bed late tonight, I could sense Phae hitting her irrational phase. She kept ranting about never ever wanting to grow up and wanting to say a kid.

I got her attention by saying, “Can I tell you something?” She quieted down to listen to me. I said, “I’ll tell you what. Even if you grow up, I will always be your mommy.”

She thought about that for a second and then said, “Mommy, I don’t mind if I will be a grown up.”

Phaedra’s Song

I didn’t bring my camera, so we had to make do with Grant’s phone. The pictures of the girls on Santa’s lap haven’t uploaded yet because his phone ran out of batteries.

Shocked? Yes, Eleanor had a hair cut this week, and that’s how short she wanted her hair to be. It’s quite the drastic change, but she loves it.

At our church Christmas party tonight, the Primary kids got to dress up as any nativity character they wanted and sing some songs. Eleanor and Phaedra wanted to be shepherds. Grant and I watched them as they sang up on stage.

As we got into the car to go home this evening, Eleanor said, “Mommy, I didn’t really know all the songs we were singing.”

I told her, “That’s okay. You did your best with the parts you did know, and I saw you up there singing.”

She said, “Yeah, when we sang ‘Christmas Bells’ I really sang that one.”

I said, “I know. I saw you. You were really singing along on that one.”

“Could you hear me singing, Mommy?”

“Oh yeah, I could hear you singing, and you sounded great.”

Then Phaedra chimed in, “Mommy did you hear me singing?”

Now, even though I had watched as Phaedra sat quietly during all the songs, not even trying to sing along and some of the time she was even playing with the boy who sat next to her, I wanted her to feel like she did a good job. I wanted to give her the answer she was looking for. I glanced at Grant as I answered, “Yes. Of course I heard you.”

“You did?” she asked with excitement.

“Yes. I heard everyone singing, and it was wonderful.”

“But Mommy, I wasn’t singing.”

Grant and I laughed a little, and Grant told her, “But you did a really good job up there being a shepherd.”

I said, “I guess I just heard the song in your heart.”

Phaedra’s response was thrilled. “Yeah! I wasn’t singing with my mouth. I was singing with my mind, and you could hear me!”