The Visitor

It's been a long time since I had a child in my house. I had a visit from a five year old girl yesterday. My mind went tumbling back to when my own children were small.

Tiny hands
Crumbs on the floor
An endless stream of happy chatter, bouncing from one subject to another
Simple declarations: I like that because it's shiny, I don't like her (The evil queen from Snow White), That looks pretty, She's a good puppy. The world is black and white for a child; shades of gray don't appear until later.
Funny faces: can you touch your nose with your tongue? I can't, but she can.

We don't have television, which baffled her. I don't know anything about Dora or Elmo's World. Well, I didn't before. She didn't know about Nutella on a cracker, but now she does. I'm sure her Mommy will thank me for that later, right? She hadn't seen a magnifying glass before. She doesn't understand why my fingernails don't wash off when I do the dishes.

"Your children are big grown up men? But where are your children?"
"They grew up, honey. Just like I did, and just like you will."

"My brother was a fat baby."
"Were you a fat baby?"
"NO." (giggle giggle giggle)
"I was a fat baby. I was so fat my big sister could hardly reach her arms around me."
(she almost falls off the chair laughing at that) "But you're not fat now."
"I guess I grew into my fat."
(that got a belly laugh)

"Can I have an orange?"
"Of course you may." A small child eating an orange makes exactly the same sound as a cow pulling its foot out of the mud and is nearly as messy... but a whole world cuter.

"Where are your children?"
"I think they went to the gym."
"Maybe you should have more children, since yours are all grown up."
"I'll have to talk to my husband about that. You may have an idea there." And now it's my turn to almost fall off the chair, laughing.


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