Thursday 11 October 2012

The things kids say and do

Mine has me in stitches laughing every now and again, just as they have me close to tears once in a while. But the laughs and the precious moments are always way more than the tears, especially these days being well out of the throws of the toddler years and straight into pre school and school years.

Last night as I put Mr C to bed he asked me what my favorite colour is (periwinkle if you did not know), so I just said blue as I was tired and wanted to get bedtime out of the way. Then he proceeded to tell me that his favorite colour is green (which I know), and then went on to say, but not light green, because it's not really my colour and not dark green because it is too close to black. Medium green is just perfect. This kid is one for details, that's for sure. He is also a very keen observer - not only does he pick up on peoples little gestures and quirks, but also on patterns etc. Standing int he dining room the other day he pointed to the floor tiles and said - Mommy do you see 4 diamonds make one big diamond?

Mr L is not the most verbal of children - and I often think we miss a lot of what he knows because his verbal abilities are behind age. Therefore he often surprises me with little bits and pieces, if I really listen up. On Friday I stopped at the petrol station - the windows were all open as it was hot, but a cool breeze was blowing and I had the climate control off. He promptly informed the petrol attendant the following (in English even!): " Fill up unleaded, auto stop is fine. Tires 2,2 bars all round" Never mind that the petrol part is for my car which we were in at the moment and the tyre specs are for the bakkie. The petrol attendant just said "Yes Captain" and looked at me to confirm with a huge smile.

The Princess is big on praying - she has always been. She has that almost standard list of thank yous and requests that most children have - food, clothes, their family and home, sick and hungry people etc. What I do love however is that she is very specific about adding things to that list. For instance, anybody sick that she knows off will be prayed for, a friend that struggles at school will be prayed for. As will be anything close to her heart at that moment. Hunter was away in the bush the weekend and told us on Sunday afternoon that they were blessed to see a huge amount of rhinos. Hence, on Sunday night she dedicated a very detailed prayer for the saving of the rhinos, the environment in general and our parks and wild animals. Later Hunter remarked that yes, we all try to work to save our rhinos, we collect funds, we as a family even contribute in a practical way (more about that at a later stage) but we have not made it a matter of prayer. Once again, God has shown us through a child how to pray. Simple, to the point about anything that matters to us. So we will continue to pray for the rhinos, and many more.

15 comments:

  1. They teach us more about life than we teach them! For sure!

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  2. Awwwww so sweet. I shed a tear when I read L's comment to the attendant.I'm sure he was proud of himself and even called Captain by the attendant. Teaches adults to be careful what is said in front of kids, they definitely absorb more than we give them credit for. And your little prayer warrior. Bless her heart. And C I wonder how the conversation would have gone if you told him your fave colour was periwinkle :)

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    1. Knowing my boy it would have turned out a very long and detailed discussion about the types of blue one gets. He is very into detail.

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  3. Your children are pure magic Cat! All three of them in their own special way.

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  4. I love these anecdotes and of course, love A's praying. I have a little post with that too but mostly I want to do a post on keeping up with these little things because I'm REALLY bad at that.

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  5. I love how kids think.

    That is so sweet that she wants to pray for the rhinos.

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  6. Your kidlets are very special human beings, proof once again that you and the hubs are doing a sterling job!

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  7. Me and my dad had a good laugh about little Mr L, talking to the petrol attendant. Now that's awesome.
    So much detail that Mr C goes into. That is very precise.
    Your princess have a big heart, reading about the way she prays. You have great kids.

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  8. Love that you're recording these on your Blog - as much as you think you don't forget, you do! There are so many things Stacey said as a little girl that I wish I had written down. Love Princess' prayers. Looking forward to hearing what you're doing to help save the Rhino! I went to a very interesting presentation at work around that this week. Investec are sponsoring a save the rhino life line project. I think it's fabulous.

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  9. Beautiful! Amazing how we grow and learn through them:-)

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  10. I am just getting to that stage with my little guy....he is just starting to talk in a way that I can really "get". He's only just gonna three next week. It's precious.

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  11. I love the petrol pump situation. Very cute.

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  12. I think you should have told C your favorite color is periwinkle. Obviously he understands the shade is important. That anecdote about L made me giggle. And what a sweet, sweet girl A is. You are blessed with 3 special children!!

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  13. I love these kinds of posts...love hearing what the kids have to say! What wonderful prayers, attention to detail and great job to L for being the man at the station!

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  14. This is why I love blogging and reading blogs. These memories are what we all need to remember.

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