Tali: I want to be a man.
Penni: You want to be a man?
Tali: Yeah.
Penni: Little girls can only be a lady.
Tali: (immediately and in all seriousness but happily and cheerfully) Why?
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And Granddad, too!
Mom’s bedtime prayer: “…And thank you that Daddy works so hard and loves us so much – “
Tali’s interjection: (whispered) “And Granddad, too! He had to work so hard and fix the pipe and he had to try and try and try with his hammer…” Etc.
So sweet! It’s amazing to hear Tali’s little heartfelt random prayers – “Please God, give rain so our plants can grow!” Even random bathroom prayers, but I won’t share that here. Anyone who must hear that will have to ask.
Tali on Squirt
We spent some time this weekend at Dan and Sheri’s house enjoying the horses and seeing the baby ducks. Tali and David rode together on Duke, then Tali wanted to ride by herself. Dan led Squirt while Tali rode and Penni walked beside. She did great! She was very confident, as if it were an everyday thing for 30 pounds to ride alone in a saddle
atop a 1,000 pound animal!
Oh please
Oh, Please. Please can I pout. – Tali
How does a cat pray?
Today at lunch I told Tali, “Mommy wants to pray now.” So I took her hand and before I could get a word out, Tali started praying. In the ramble of thankfulness she included these things: “Thank you for the man fixing our road, and thank you for the sky and the clouds and our big house and thank you for the sunlight.” All stamped by a hearty “Amen.” We’re not in the habit of asking Tali to pray, so all of that was kinda surprising. Tonight at bedtime I asked if she wanted to pray. She shook her head yes. I wanted to make sure of what she wanted so I asked, “Do you want Mommy to pray or Tali to pray?” “First Cat (her favorite pretend identity), then Mommy.” Ok. So tonight’s prayer was something like this, “Nyow, nya, nya, nya, nya, nya, nya, Amen.” So, is that how a cat prays?
Little Popeye
“I want more spinach!” – Spoken by Tali after chowing down her first serving of cooked fresh spinach. Can’t complain about that!
Rebels who worship
One evening recently I picked up Tali from Grandma’s. When we got home and out of the car, Tali looked up at a moonless winter sky full of stars. Her response: “Thank you, God, thank you, God, thank you, God, my little stars!” A good lesson for us whose worship is stale, practiced, absent…
Well, I was so impressed and pleased with my 2 year old who loves to sing, who gives God credit for making things like stars and birds, and thanks him for them. But not long after that burst of praise another side of my sweet toddler flashed out. We were getting ready for bed one night when she said quietly, “I wanna hurt people.” “No,” I said, “you don’t want to hurt people. Are you teasing Mama?” “No,” was her sure answer. “I wanna hurt people with a big stick.” I know my cherub has a rebel in her. It’s hard to see it – hard to handle it sometimes! Just like me, she’s a rebel at heart. But just like her, I want to worship with all my heart.
(For those of you concerned about Tali’s violent streak, don’t be alarmed. We’d been working in the garden that day. She’d been playing with a garden stake that I repeatedly told her to be careful with. By bedtime she just happened to be in a tired, grumpy sort of mood.)
