Day Two

Retraction: Upon further review, it's quite possible that Sawyer's hair has been cut like that for six weeks or more. You see, our last visit to the barber was a bit traumatic. I took him to the barbershop by himself, and about half way through the 5-minute haircut, he became concerned that Mama wasn't around and then seemed to begin thinking that he might not ever see her again. So he was screaming and trying to get down while the barber was trying to finish up. I forgot to ask at school today.


After school today, we took a trip out to our big spacious backyard to kick the ball around a little bit. In a city with 20 million people all trying to live within three miles of the river, your perspective on "wide open spaces" changes a bit. Beth and I have caught ourselves several times saying things that surprised us. For instance, at the "crazy art" place on Saturday, out in the countryside (really, it's several miles from the city) we were talking about living out there and how different it would be. I said to our friends that I've come to enjoy the "security" of having all the people around. Growing up in The Hub City of Northwest Florida (Crestview, pop. 20,000 or so) I never dreamed I'd find security in having a constant parade of strangers walk by my house.

Another evening recently, we were driving in a neighborhood we hadn't visited before and Beth commented that she wanted to move there because the streets were so empty and quiet. I told her to call her grandmother in the Mississippi Delta and try to convince her that this street was "quiet" when we could see tons of cars and busses, people buying and selling fruit, and lots of random business. Anyway, our perspective is changing.

All that to say, that every time we go out on the back porch, Lee Anna wants to play "hide and seek." Our porch is awesome. It's private (well, private as you can be with four other buildings overlooking your space.) It's clean. It has running water, and lots of toys. What it lacks, however, is lots of good hiding places. Basically, you can hide behind the tree, or up on the stoop by the back door. But we love hide and seek, so Lee Anna puts her head against the wall and we take turns hiding behind the tree, or crouching behind a chair and pretending nobody can see you. Sawyer likes to count, too, but he doesn't know his numbers yet, so he hides his face against the wall and shouts out one syllable sounds and then comes to find us.
We had a good day today. Went to McDonalds for a square meal with all the basic food groups. I sent a text message to a friend and asked if Sprite counts as a fruit serving. He wrote back that it's actually two, if you count the lemon and the lime separately. The kids had potatoes and tomatoes (in the ketchup) and poultry and two fruits each. Oh, and don't forget the frozen dairy products we had afterward!!

One more note about tonight, and then I'll quit rambling so I can go to sleep. After supper, Lee Anna and I agreed that we'd come home and take a bath, and then watch Diego before bed time. Well, poor little Sawyer didn't really understand the whole sequence, he just heard "Diego" and got in his mind that we were going home to watch his favorite cartoon animal rescuer. I put him in the tub against his will, and he really never quit crying about Diego until I got him out. "After your bath" is a pretty complex concept for that little two-year-old mind to grapple with. But now he's sleeping peacefully, having bathed and watched Diego. (Yes, Mommy, we brushed teeth and read our Bible story, too. :) )