When was the last time you got a peek into a child's mind and a child's heart?

At an autopsy.
Ba-dum-chhsss. Thank you very much! I’ll be here all month… Please try the salad bar.

I do know as each and every day for the last 15 years and 12 years respectively. That love and desire to be loved, sprinkled with fascination and innocence has been there every day and I hope never goes away.

@Cruiser But to hear a little person actually be able to speak what is in their mind? I just thought that was cool….sure, he was repeating his Mom, but Mom was able to put into words what he couldn’t quite.

@Dutchess_III My oldest blew my mind with his unique observations of life we adults would never mention in the presence of others and my youngest who struggled with sensory issues was finally able to break through and articulate his feelings in his own words and in such a pure and eloquent way that would just stop me in my tracks and cause me to hug his little body and let him know all is well and the hugs I got back will last me till the day I pass. I am blessed.

Last year I was shooting with a camcorder my friend’s daughter’s 7th birthday party. I was videotaping her with some friends as they were all eating. As I execute my rather impressive and steady handheld circular tracking shot around the table, one girl says to me, “Excuse me, I’m eating, I don’t feel like being filmed right now.” Kids.

I mentor a bunch of kids of various ages. I get peaks now and then about their thought process. Some kids more than others.

@Cruiser Ah….I’d like to hear more!
You guys! I gave a specific example! Think hard, now!

Every time I am with them.

Last night. At dinner. A story about the strange strange things that happen at my daughter’s high school. For example, she was looking through the senior yearbook. There is a club, it seems, called the South Lawn Club. Only one thing happens on the South Lawn. The ingestion of the smoke of a certain weed.

Every club has to have a faculty sponsor.

Oh the world my child lives in.

4:20, @wundayatta. 4:20. Nap time. It’s all good.

@Dutchess_III I can’t quite me that level of cuteness as I am with my boys every day. But the remarks from both my boys comes close and to hear my oldest simply still ask to hang out with me and my 12 yr old make it so clear he still wants me to tuck him in every night complete with our secret handshake is more than I ever imagined being a parent to be.

Yes! Yes….yes. I know. My baby is almost 24. I remember the gawkly child/man 13 year old….I remember. I just don’t remember exactly when it..slid away altogether….

I will be looking in this weekend. Going to take a 6 year old on her first fishing trip. Hopefully the bullheads will be biting.

Funny how I have all the time in the world for a 6 year old full of questions, but an adult with the same questions would drive me nuts.

Every day, God bless my little divas. They say things that amaze me. Every. Single. Day.

While shopping the other day, I held up a cute little t-shirt for my 5 yr old to look at. She said “It’s pretty, but what’s it say?” I told her it says, “My heart belongs to Mommy” and her face lit up as she squealed, “We finally found a Mommy shirt! I’ll take it!” and she snatched it out of my hand. Most of the time, you see little girl shirts that say “I heart Dad” or “My heart belongs to Daddy”... she’s had those but was genuinely excited to have found a shirt with MY name on it. It made me a little teary that she was so excited over it.

My oldest daughter said something that really surprised me, just after I got my daughters’ names tattooed on my sides recently. I was changing clothes and before I got my shirt on, she started lightly running her fingers up and down both her and her sister’s names, then wrapped her arms around my waist and looked up at me. She said, “This is so perfect, because just in case anything ever happens to me or Sissy, we’ll be part of you forever.” I couldn’t believe that a 10 yr old would think of something like that.

I love my little angels, bless their devilish antics. Sometimes I feel a need to run away screaming, but other times… they really touch me.

Every day. I have a 7 year old daughter.

I’ll be a sad panda when I don’t have a little one in my life.

Every time something I smell, or hear, or feel that brings me back to my childhood. I have many memories of my childhood and the things I thought of and felt. The stongest of them all was just wanting to be loved and the joy it always bought me to be loved. So whenever, I am anywhere near a child, I’m always reminded how powerful is that feeling in such a small body. Its so simple being them. Love people and accept the love they give you back. No malice, or hatred, or tricks. They just live in the moment. Hard to do as adults and they make it seem so simple.

I teach in a preschool so I do get to enjoy those great moments very often. There’s always something every day that would make me laugh and feel touched by their words.

Loved the question, loved the details.

Recently, one of my many nieces (age 6) visited with her mom and grandma.We have a very special relationship, she and I. When she first saw me, she ran to me and we kissed and hugged as usual. Then grandma came over and asked to take our picture. Grandma noticed, then said: she always has an especially big smile when she’s with you.

Oh, only every damn day! I’m constantly in awe of my kids & everything they stand for. That’s how our relationship swings.

Sometimes my little girl starts crying in the middle of the night so I put her in bed with me. The other night she sat up, pulled the blankets around me and said, “you go sleep, mama” and started petting my hair. It was so cute and sweet.

One time, as a single Mom, I was busting my butt in the Kansas July heat doing yard work. My then-six-year-old came out and said, “Poor Mommy. You look so tired. When you get done with that you just come in and rest.”
I grumbled, “After this I gotta clean the house,” maybe hoping she’d volunteer to do something!
There was a pause and she gently said, “Well, after you get done with that too, then you just need to rest.”
It was so sweet! And funny!

This kind of sheer joy and delight you experience in the presence of children or a certain child? This is how God feels about you.

Hm. He feels joy in every one of us? Even Jeffrey Dahlmer and co?

O! The other night my daughter said she must have been talking in her sleep, because her 7 year old son gently woke her up to ask her what was wrong.
She said, “Oh, just a bad dream. Nothing. Not to worry. Go back to bed.”
He heaves a BIG sigh and says, “Oh allRIGHT! I’ll sleep with you!” And crawled in beside her and promptly snoozed off!