Miriam is dressed up today in a pretty little dress with a green sweater and eggshell tights. She has her hair in piggy-tails with red ribbons tied into bows around each one. When I hugged her and told her that she's my pretty little princess, Judah shouted:
"She is NOT a princess! She's BEAUTIFULER than a princess! She's a QUEEN!"
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This morning, Miriam was sitting on the counter eating an apple while Judah was standing on the step-stool. He jumped down, and in his most exciting way, said, "MIRIAM! Do you want to PLAY? Do you want to play pirates?!?" She shook her head, "No."
He said, "What do YOU want to play?"
She said, "Girls."
He said, "Pirates?"
She said, "Girls."
He said something silly that made no sense and made her laugh.
Then he tried again, "Miriam! Let's play pirates!"
She shook her head, "No" and said, "Dress."
"OH! You want to play dress!? I know how to play that!" Judah exclaimed. Then, he said, "There's a PIRATE! And a dragon! And the dragon has on a dress! And he EATS the whole crew! Ha ha ha!!!!" (that's his sinister laugh)
Miriam says, "Baby doll dress."
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A few weeks ago, Miriam was in a dress with tights for the first time in months, and Judah said, "Daddy, I can't stop looking at her. She's so beautiful."
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I love living in a house with a little boy and a little girl, and I just have to laugh any time someone suggests that gender differences are not inherent. Right. Tell that to Miriam the next time Judah begs for a story about a pirate, and Indian, and a cowboy, and Miriam shouts, "NO! GIRL!"
Judah might have put some of his stuffed animals to bed every now and then, but Miriam puts them to bed, feeds them, puts clothes on them, changes their diapers, gives them baths, sings them songs, and cuddles them while singing in the sweetest voice, "Rock a baby tree top, cradle rock." What a precious, precious little girl.
My mighty warrior is saying right now, "You know that you are going to get killed, right? Yes!" There's a war going on downstairs with blocks and Noah's ark animals and tiny weapons molded from clay. A four-year-old boy was "exercising his strength" earlier with a make-shift barbell: a summer pool noodle (long cylindrical piece of styrofoam) with his two heavy snow boots on each end.
My children are so different yet so amazing. I'm trying my best to soak it all in with thankfulness. As a friend said recently, "When your children are young, the days are long, but the years are short."
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Danny Silk of Loving On Purpose wrote a short newsletter that got me all teary-eyed. You can find it here:
http://news.lovingonpurpose.com/2008/12/dec-newsletter.html
Merry Christmas
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