*****
My four-year-old watches dinosaur train on an ipad as I watch the Rangers play a hell of a game of hockey.
"Mommy, I want you to watch my show with me."
I glance at her screen.
C'mon, c'mon...
She elbows me and says, 'Mommy watch!"
"Mmm..."
Nice pass!
"That's Tiny, Shiny, Buddy and Don, two brothers and two sisters. They all like each other...
Oh almost!!!
"...Elias doesn't like me."
What.
I turn and look at my growing girl, the younger sibling of a boy who experiences both autism and cerebral palsy, my wounded warrior, my resilient one.
"Oh Olive, he likes you, he... just doesn't always know how to show you."
Oh my heart.
*******
Olive sits in her bed and I lay next to her reading The Summer My Father Was Ten.
The story begins with a daughter planting a garden with her Dad, tending to the plants, picking flowers for their neighbor who walks with a cane.
"Like Elias uses canes."
"Right, like Elias."
"Did she hurt her brain?"
"Um..."
*******
Easter evening, on the way back from Nick's parents house in Palmer Olive asks, "Do Wolves eat lambs?"
And I think maybe she's thinking about the story, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, and the danger that comes with lying. I told her this tale recently in hopes she'd tell the truth more often.
"Yep, they do, "I answer.
"That's so sad," she says from her car seat.
I don't look back.
And I choose not to tell her the name of the meat I just coaxed her to eat for supper.
*****
*****
"I'm washing my butt." Olive stands in the tub, riding her washcloth.
"Your butts in the back, Sweetie"
"Oh, whats this again?"
"Your vagina."
"How do you know?"
"Uh, my Mom taught me."
Boys have penises, girls have vaginas, but we all have fannies.
"And how did you remember?"
"Um, well, I just did."
Someday, Olive, you'll know why you'll never forget the word vagina.
But right now, just relish your body for what it is, all naked and clean and made just right.
*****
Goodnight.
Love this!!!
Posted by: Susan | 04/28/2014 at 04:31 PM
I love seeing pictures of Elias and Olive meeting life with smiles and a sense of adventure. You are doing such a good job with them! I also love glimpses of my beloved Alaska, which I'll see again next week. Thank you for sharing your world with your readers.
Posted by: linda | 05/04/2014 at 10:40 AM