Here's to the Sunny Slopes of Long Ago: October 2012

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Nothing to Worry About Here!

Eliana got her head stuck in a rocking chair this week. It was a child-sized rocker, gifted from Fred at Lakeside when Eliana was a newborn baby. It was around 3:30 on Tuesday, and I was cooking in the kitchen when I heard Eliana cry, “Help!” from the family room. Eliana cries “Help!” about 400 times a day so I did not immediately drop my spatula. But, then she started really screaming so I ran over to see Leah trying to pull the rocking chair off of Eliana’s head. The first order of business was to get Leah to drop the rocker, which definitely helped things. And then, I calmly assured Eliana, “Don’t worry, if you were able to get your head in there, we will definitely be able to get it out. Just stay calm and we’ll find the right angle.” I adjusted her head, I adjusted the chair, I tried all kinds of angling and sliding, but her dome would not budge out of that chair. I decided to use a little force, which resulted in a lot of screaming and a beet red ear. Eliana started whaling again.

I decided that some additional grownup help was needed. It was agony to leave her, but I convinced Eliana to be brave while I went to get a neighbor. I took Leah with me, lest she decide to try to free Eliana herself again, and we ran barefoot through the backyard to our next-door neighbors front door. Thank God, the front door was open and Jordan was right there in the living room with his mother, Pam. “Uh, Can you help us? Eliana has her head stuck in a rocking chair?” The neighbors went running with us back to the family room, where Eliana was calmly waiting. Jordan said, “Don’t worry, if you were able to get your head in there, we will definitely be able to get it out,” and proceeded to try to find the right angle to free her head. When it was obvious that her head was not budging, he went to work with the screwdriver. He took all of the screws out, but the chair was finely crafted and hammered tight. “Hang in there Eliana,” I said. “When we get you out you’ll have a giant ice cream sundae, with whipped cream and sprinkles and jelly beans and cookies on top!” At this point I was ready to call the fire department, but Jordan said he could run home for his saw and saw my baby out. So, with Jordan’s saw inches from her face, and Pam shielding the sawdust from her eyes and nose, Eliana was sawed out of the rocking chair. We clapped! We hugged! We thanked Jordan and Pam! We thanked God most of all! Leah announced, “I have poopies Mommy!” and Jordan said, “I think I do too!”

Eliana remembered every last detail of the ice cream sundae that was promised her, and of course Leah got a matching sundae, jellybeans and all. I did not bother asking, but she offered, “You know Mom, I don’t even know why I stuck my head in that chair.” But, I think I know why. I think God was teaching me an important lesson, in a kind and gentle way. The lesson: Stop Worrying. I have always had a tendency to worry, but it has gotten worse since the kids were born. I have an overactive imagination, and I am talented at imagining horrific circumstances. It is effortless; they just come to me. You’d be amazed at the scenarios I can think up. I know that I need to train my mind to not entertain these thoughts, but somehow thinking of each potential hazard makes me feel more equipped and prepared to deal with it. But a head stuck in a rocking chair? Nope, that one never crossed my mind. It was as if God was saying to me, “You can worry about everything under the sun, but you’ll never cover every possible scenario anyway, so just relax, I’ll take care of you!” And it is true. I don’t think it was coincidental that our neighbors were there to immediately help us out. Pam to help nurture and comfort; Jordan to wield the saw.

The assignment I have been left with is to stop worrying. Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.” And Luke 12:25, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?” So I am meditating on these scriptures every time I start imagining potential disasters, and I’m focusing on the fact that God wants me to have peace, and does not want my heart to be troubled or afraid (John 14:27).

After Eliana was freed from the chair, she asked, “Why didn’t you take a picture Mommy?” and sounded a little annoyed that I hadn’t. I admit the thought crossed my mind, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to take a photograph in the midst of a crisis. This mom Katie did manage to snap a photo. (Eliana was faced the opposite direction, but this should give you a good idea of what she looked like.) This little tearaway toddler actually made the news in the UK! I guess Eliana is not the only kid to get her head stuck in a rocking chair, and both of these kids required the fire department to cut them out!

Ice Cream makes everything better!

"I tried to help my Didta {Sister}"

Monday, October 8, 2012

My Kids are Weird.

My kids are weird. I suspect that other people’s kids are weird too. But here is the latest from mine.

Leah is completely obsessed with my armpit. It is a long story. It was not too much of a problem over the summer – basically when she wanted comfort she would snuggle on my lap and stick her hand in my armpit, or at night she’d roll over in bed and try to wiggle a finger into my armpit. It sounds really strange, but I had gotten used to it. Now that the weather is cooler and I’m wearing long sleeved shirts, my armpit is no longer as accessible. Leah started screaming in anger, “Where’s Mommy’s armpit???” the first time I had on a long sleeve shirt. So, lately we’ve been having armpit battles. She screams, “I want Mommy’s armpit!!!” I try to console her that she has the rest of Mommy, so that should be enough. I hate to admit it, but Leah often wins these battles by her persistence, and she is getting adept at wiggling through a long-sleeve shirt to reach the armpit. Arrrggh.

As for Eliana, she has started lying about her age. She tells everyone that she meets she is 5 years old. EVERYONE!!! The lady at the supermarket, her teacher at church, kids on the playground. I think she is starting to believe it. She tells me that when Leah turned 2, she turned 5.

Leah has become a lot more verbal, and is better able to articulate her fears. She calls anyone threatening or scary a “mean guy.” This applies to Halloween displays in all the stores, and it makes it easy to know when she is afraid so I can comfort her. But she also says it about random people (the cashier in the store, the friendly older man who came over to say how cute the girls were, etc.). The weirdest one though is the Geico gecko. As soon as the commercial comes on she screams, “Mean guy!!!” and wants the channel changed.

Eliana has been claiming that she does not sleep at night. When she wakes up in the morning and I ask how she slept, she says, “I stayed in my bed, but I was awake all night.” She says that she never dreams because she never sleeps. Last week, in the middle of the night she woke up crying and afraid of something. Even in that upset state, she claimed that she had not been asleep!!! She definitely believes this one!

Leah’s latest obsession is “Elmo Robot.” Nobody really knows what Elmo Robot is, or where he came from. She likes Elmo. And at some point she started to like robots. But now every time she gets paper and crayon in hand she demands that I come over and “Draw Elmo Robot!!” In fact, if I am busy and unable to do it, she demands that Eliana draw Elmo Robot for her. (Did I mention that Leah has gotten really demanding lately???) Basically we just draw an Elmo face with stick legs and arms, and it appeases her, but Eliana and I are both hoping she forgets about Elmo Robot soon!

Lastly, Eliana is obsessed with drawing pictures of Hell. To be fair, she draws Heaven too. Although the Hell drawings are clearly her artistic passion. Bryan, a very sweet boy from our church "cell group," got her started with the Heaven/Hell drawings when he gifted a few of his own to her. It is really fun that Eliana’s drawings are starting to have more clarity and story behind them! I can’t wait to see what will be next after her afterlife phase!