leaving a legacy

i love the conversations mikayla and i have driving places. mikayla wanted to know if she would be a little girl when she was in heaven. so i told her how the bible tells us that we will have perfect bodies in heaven. she thought a minute then said that’s not true because remember how those mean robbers hid behind the bushes on the road and then beat up that man and left him to die. so he didn’t have a perfect body in heaven. i then explained to her how that happened a long time ago but not in heaven. on earth? she asked me. i told her yes. a few minutes later mikayla asked me if people would tell stories about her after she died. i told her yes. she wanted to know who. i told her all the people who loved and knew her would tell stories about her. the conversation ended with mikayla saying, i guess i need to start being really, really good.

little women and life plans

michael has started reading to mikayla these kid version classics. so far they have read great expectations, robin hood, and king arthur. they are about to start reading little women (one of my favorites) so i was introducing mikayla to the characters. i told her about amy, who loved to paint and was very concerned with being pretty. (mikayla commented kindof like me and my babysitter amy). i told her about beth who was extremely sweet but very sick. (that’s like lindsey). jo, i told her, was a tomboy who loved to read. (mikayla said that is exactly like me but i am a womanboy) when i got to meg & her getting married, mikayla said she didn't have a plan for marriage yet because she was too young to figure that out. she paused and then said when she was 6 she would decide who she was going to marry. then she told me she already had a job plan. when she was tara’s age she would be an artist for sixty eighty years. then when she was a mommy she would be a teacher to little kids. finally when she was in heaven she would share all of her stuff with everyone.

“i not charlie”

last night in the car mt dropped his gum. he immediately turned to me crying about his lost gum. he wanted another piece to replace it. i told him sorry charlie, no more gum. with an extremely indignant face he yelled at me through his tears “i not charlie!”

mikayla’s unique style

tears, frustration, sharp words used to be the norm for both mine and mikayla’s mornings. all over what she wore to school/church that day. she either didn’t like the clothes i had bought for her or i didn’t like the combination of clothes that she wanted to wear. but all has changed now. last weekend i took mikayla shopping, gave her a budget and allowed her to completely pick out what she wanted to buy. i informed her teachers that mikayla’s attire was a battle i no longer would be fighting. i wanted them to be prepared for whatever mikayla chose to wear. the very first day i could tell she was testing me. mikayla picked out to wear jeans, 2 skirts, and a shirt. i didn’t even blink an eye when she showed me what she would be wearing that day. i will say that when i picked her up from school that day she was minus one skirt. most days mikayla dresses fairly normal with a slight flair. i am really glad i decided to give over control. the only rule i stipulated was that she could not wear a piece of clothing two days in a row. otherwise she would wear her favorite purple dress every single day. our mornings are much better now.

where does she get this?!?!?

the following is copied and pasted from a post by one of my best friend’s sister-in-laws. she helped babysit all our kids while we went out.

today, me and chase went by jessica's house to help cammie out with all those kids for a while. as kk strutted by holding her plate of pizza, she turns to chase and says, "what, you've never seen a woman carrying pizza before?" we all died laughing! :) she is adorable.

her personality is so funny to me. she has a good mixture of her aunt’s lindsey and meredith in her.

Personal Hygiene Concern

On the way home in the car I asked Mikayla if she would like a clue to her Valentines’ Day Present. Of course she said yes, so I told her that her present was something she could use over and over again. The smile disappeared from her face as she confidently and reluctantly said, “It soap isn’t it?”

-Michael

i’m not stupid!!!

one of my favorite mikayla stories happened as she was riding home with mimi and bubba. bubba was upset because the car behind him was tailgating. mimi asked bubba what was wrong and he replied he was mad at the stupid person behind him. well, mikayla happened to be sitting directly behind bubba and took great offense to his remark. she loudly informed bubba that she was not stupid. with a great chuckle bubba explained to mikayla he was not calling her stupid but the driver behind him. mikayla went on to lecture bubba that stupid was not a nice word and he should not call other people that.