Dear Reader:

Poor little Jakie….the new word he hears a lot lately, is “NO!” “No Jakie, don’t grab that…you will pull the doll house over on you or “No Jakie, you can’t stand in the chair.” You name the scenerio…it always starts with a “No.” (I try to find another word, but Jakie is so quick getting into sticky situations….it’s all I have time to utter…but as you can see from the second photo…it sometimes hurts his feelings. It’s a tough stretch in life.)

Jakie is in the metamorphosis stage between a tadpole and frog…He walks around holding onto push toys but becomes a tadpole and starts squirming away when left to walk alone. (I believe there’s a song here...”I’ll Never Walk Alone.“)

Mandy shared with me an observation she has made between the first child and the second. With the first you want them sitting up, crawling, walking, and talking before their peers so you can tell everyone  how amazing your child is. With the second (and particularly the last) child you begin to chill and just let your child alone to develop at his/her own pace. You find yourself not wanting your baby to transition into a toddler so quickly because you know you can’t get that special baby bonding ever back again.

Sunday I went over to Mandy and John’s to babysit the children so they could get out for  for the first time since Christmas and the surgery…much overdue and needed. Before they left they persuaded me to stay and spend the night which I ended up doing.

The children were wonderful, we had a great time. John made us all a big breakfast yesterday morning and soon I said my good-byes. Mandy and I walked out to the car and this is what I saw…

Sometime during the evening my car got ‘bombed’ by (most likely)  adolescents who either thought my “BOO” was a challenge/taunt or they were middle-schoolers who really don’t like social studies. Since John and Mandy’s car wasn’t hit….it appeared that mine was targeted unless the culprits came while they were still out on their “date” and my car was just sitting in the wrong place at the wrong time.

There were white globs all over the car from front to back…from bottom to top. Mandy and I tried to figure it out.. was it restless kids in the neighborhood or a flock of birds with a stomach virus?

John solved the mystery when he returned from getting my car washed (what a wonderful son-in-law I have)….he said there was (what appeared to be) a flour trail leading to the car…they must have had some mixture of flour and water wads as “ammo.”

This incident reminded me (on the way home) of one of Donald Davis’ stories that always cracks me up. Apparently in the small mountain town (where Donald grew up) in the Appalachian Mountains they had a Baptist minister who young Donald and his friends called “Reverend NO NO.”

The “good reverend” was always preaching against sin and every time he gave an example he would ask the congregation to tell him what they were going to say if tempted to commit this sin….”No!” would be the loud response, echoing back from the pews….though some members looked more like the “yes” kind and in actuality were.

One summer Donald and his gang decided to make the best balloon-filled concoctions ever made to drop on unsuspecting cars at the one intersection in town from the top of Donald’s daddy’s hardware store. They put some water and flour in the balloon bombs…but then went one step farther…they added Gerber’s green pea baby formula to the mix.

After filling the balloons…they left them in the sun to dry until they began to quiver and they knew the balloons were ready to drop on their unsuspecting victims.

One afternoon it was Reverend “No No” himself who stopped at the intersection just long enough to get bombarded….the pukish green mixture with the putrid smell hit him squarely in the face…when he momentarily panicked at the concoction on the front windshield, opened the door to get out while turning on the windshield wipers …..smack, smack, smack….went the sound of yuckiness hitting him in the face and chest.

The next Sunday he preached on Revelations and the end of the world coming….He told his congregation why he, himself, had been witness to monstrous beasts of the sky who attacked his car with their huge horrid droppings. The end was near…he screamed at everyone. Thank goodness his screaming was so loud…no one heard a group of little boys giggling in the balcony.

At least my “attackers” weren’t creative enough to add split/pea baby food to the bombings. The flour and water came right off and thanks to John…I returned home with a clean, shiny car.

So until tomorrow…God, I suspect (in sheer exasperation) You feel like telling us many times (as You watch us go against Your Will)….“What part of NO don’t you understand?”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

• I decided, after watching Eva Cate create tall “buildings” from her story books that perhaps that’s how the origin of the word “story” (meaning a level in building)… came to pass.

*Another thought crossed my mind on the way home…if there was someone in the front yard…why didn’t Tigger go crazy…For being so tiny he really is a great guard dog…he barks when cars simply stop at the intersection…he especially like buses. He is always at the door barking to get out and greets me before I can even get out of my car….What happened Tigger?…Were you too enamored with your look-alike stuffed buddy?

Tigger is also a photo-hog…he loves getting his picture made and jumped right in the picture of myself and the grandchildren.

Happy Birthday Marcia! Aren’t we the luckiest grandmothers around to have two presents that keep on giving every minute of every day! Have a great birthday! Can hardly wait to see you again soon….and this time hang out in Summerville some!

*Happy Birthday to my nephew Lee (and Robert E. Lee’s birthday for whom he is named.) Lee, I hope you have a very happy one and your birthday just keeps going and going….it will need to because my birthday card is running a little late….but its’ coming!

*We always knew Lee would one day fill out any hat he chose to wear.

*Matthew and Jhasmany surprised us and went to see St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope for themselves and really liked it….Oh, how I miss it….I would love to see it in the snow if a helicopter could just drop me off and pick me up!