For Posterity's Sake: Week in Review 23

Audrey taking a dancing break during a waffle-making session yesterday.



Please excuse my Week in Review tardiness this week. I have spent most of my Audrey-free/Audrey-happily-occupied-with-play-doh moments this weekend putting the finishing touches on a long-overdue gift (shocking, I know). The gift finished (more on that later this week), I'm ready to get down to some week-end reminiscing.



On Tuesday as I made dinner, Audrey went outside with her Dad to check on the garden. We have two small saplings planted in pots sitting on the back porch. Due to the recent rain, these pots are rather muddy, making them even more attractive to our outdoorsy girl. Audrey had already been sent inside once for not obeying her Daddy (who was attempting to keep her clean before dinner) when he told her to stay out of them. Just out the door with fingers reaching straight for one of the pots, Jason warned, "Audrey!" Straightening up quickly, she said, "No mud. Just looking."


Wednesday, Audrey came to sleep in our room during a thunderstorm. In the morning, I was checking messages on my phone before she got up. When she did wake up, her movements knocked my phone on the floor. Hearing a thud, she said, "Did you knock something over?" I said no. She looked at me again. "Did you throw a book?" (I have been wondering ever since just when she's seen me throw a book).


Wednesday night, Audrey began whining and spitting at the dinner table. We told her that until she stopped, she couldn't get out of her booster seat. She tried to appeal to Jason, who was clearly standing his ground. When she realized she wasn't getting anywhere with him, she looked at me and said, "Mommy, come on!"


Jason calls Audrey his "little pancake." Thursday morning as we were playing she said, "Are you my pancake?" I guess we all need to have our own little pancake.


When Audrey wants to do something and I tell her that we can't today, such as go to the zoo, she often replies, "zoo closed." This week, she has been going through a laundry list of people she wants to see: her Grammy, her Papaw, her Mamaw, her aunt, her Grammy's cat. On Friday, she was going through the list again, and as I told her that Grammy was at work or Papaw was out of town, she would say, "Grammy is closed. Papaw is closed. Mr. T (the cat) is closed." Luckily, everyone was open on Saturday.


Jason has been teaching Audrey that he is a man, Mama is a woman, and she is a little girl. While eating waffles yesterday morning, she looked at me and said, "Daddy is a little boy in a big man." Yes. Yes, he is, and we wouldn't have him any other way.


Thursday night we took a break from the kitchen and went out to eat. When we left the restaurant, I set my to-go cup on the hood of our car while I strapped Audrey in her car seat. As I buckled her in, Audrey said, "Mama, don't forget your cup, ok?" I must admit, even though Audrey hasn't witnessed it yet, I have been prone to forget things on the hood of my car. One incident in particular springs to mind. I was in high school, as was my older sister. We had just spent a rough morning together, as two teenage girls sharing a bathroom are prone to do from time to time. Running late, wrapping a fresh-from-the-toaster Pop-Tart in a napkin and grabbing my bag, I hurried outside, where we continued our morning fuming as I tossed my bag into the car. My sister backed out of the driveway, put the car in drive, and pushed down hard on the accelerator. A papery rectangle flew off the hood of the car to our right. "What was that?" my sister yelled. In the most dramatic voice I could muster, I yelled, "That was my breakfast!" And, that ended our morning argument, as flying Pop-Tarts are prone to do.


I find it amazing that little ones come into our lives with gifts that compliment our deficiencies. My little sister was born with this incredible internal GPS. My mother (or myself, for that matter) was not. I remember my little sister often directing her from the backseat of the car, once guiding her perfectly to a favorite restaurant forty minutes from our house. I think she was five or six. The running joke was the after my sister left for college, we were certain my mom would be left driving aimlessly about lost. In reality, she bought herself a GPS. I have a feeling that my little one will serve as a talking reminder list for her forgetful mama for years to come.


I hope that you are all enjoying your weekend, that the favorite people in your lives have all been open to see you, and that your lives have been filled by people whose gifts make you stronger and your days a little lighter. Off to the garden now, with my little boy in a big man and his little pancake...