You know those commercials where the kids haven't gone to bed yet, but when Mom checks on them they're sitting on big brother's bed while big brother holds forth with a story that he's reading himself? You know that warm-hearted yet vaguely smug smile Mom wears in the cut away? I had one of those moments tonight.
One of the Seven Deadly Habits of Children is absolute silence. Or, at least, silence to the point where Mommy and/or Daddy cannot hear them. This always signals Bad News. This is when Mommy gets that other look on her face and sends Daddy to investigate. In the background, Daddy swears he can hear the strident violins playing the Psycho Shower Sequence as he opens the kids' door and discovers that one or the other of them (he'll never get the straight story from either of them) has taken an artistic interest in their bedroom furniture featuring crayon that Daddy can already tell has soaked into the finish. Mommy and Daddy then spontaneously combust as their blood pressures read 500 over, I don't know, say 15,000. That oughta do it.
Anyway, the kids were making that kind of silence. Mrs. Woody either hadn't caught on yet that there was a lack of kid-generated white noise behind her, or her excellent ears could hear what I couldn't. Anyway, I faked a trip to the bathroom so I could surreptitiously peek in on their dirty work.
Both Woodyettes were snuggled on Mrs. Woody's big, comfy recliner sharing a book between them. The book, by the way, was "What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know," and is one of the guides Mrs. Woody has been using to develop curriculum for the five year old. Since they both can read they were busily combing through the book, finding stories to read to each other. They were taking turns, even!!
Before I could quite catch myself, I had one of those aforementioned sappy smiles on my face.
I must confess that I have those moments quite frequently these days. Seven and five can be challenging ages, but mostly they're cute. Mrs. Woody and I only occasionally have to referee when tempers get short, and when one or the other (or, worse, both!) is tired, all bets are off. Otherwise, these small ones are complete angels.
We get compliments all the time. "What adorable girls you have!" they tell us. "So well behaved, too!" We get this at Church all the time. I usually make some curmudgeonly response, but secretly I know they're right.
Bedtime has arrived, and I need to go have Song and Prayer with the fam. We do this every night. It's our own family devotional and it has worked for us from the time Woodyette the Elder was still a linoleum lizard. Even now they are coming in to tell Daddy that it's time for "Toofies."
Catch ya all later. Gotta go brush now.
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