Story Starters

There are several ways to start this story. I could first mention that Spence is slower than slow. Hurry is not in his vocabulary. And he's very easily distracted, as I'm sure most 4 year old are. Of course, if I'm being honest, I'm pretty prone to being distracted myself. Now where was I? Oh yes, how to start off this story.

It might be best to start it by telling you that our gardenia bush by the front door serves as our outdoor toilet. Anytime we're already on our way out and Spence has forgotten to go to the bathroom, I send him behind the bush. Gross, maybe. Time-saving, for sure.

I could also choose to start the story with the fact that Spence gets overly upset if I don't take him with me when I go drop Coleman off at school in the morning. On the rare occasion that he's still asleep when we leave, I come back to him whining and crying, "Why did you leave me???" I have no idea what's so fun about this trip. I guess maybe he just doesn't want to be left out of anything!

So now you're probably really wondering if I'm ever going to actually tell you the story. Here goes. This morning Spence was up in plenty of time to eat his breakfast then get ready to go with us to drop off Coleman. Most mornings he goes in his pajamas anyway, so I really think this whole situation could have been avoided. But it wasn't. About 20 minutes before time to leave, I told Spence to go upstairs and pick out his clothes. He did! He actually had his underwear, shorts, and shirt in his hands. Then he got distracted. When it was time to leave, I said, "As soon as I get Allie out of bed, we're out the door Spence." He starts screaming, "Wait! I'm not dressed! I can be fast!" But instead of starting to put on his clothes, he kept screaming about how fast he could get dressed. I headed out the door with Coleman and Allie. Spence had just ripped off his pajama pants and pull-up, so all he was wearing was his pajama shirt. He grabbed his clothes and headed down the stairs and toward the car, first stopping at the gardenia bush to go potty. As I was buckling Allie in, I spotted his half-naked self climbing in the car, still clutching his clothes! He got dressed in the car!

I have to admit that it is easy to get annoyed with him at times, but he sure keeps life interesting. I'm sure no one else in our neighborhood ran out of their house naked this morning and got dressed in their car. Probably no one reading this did either! And the thing is, that exact same scenario will never occur again. And if I tried to think up the wildest happening I could, it wouldn't even compare to the next stunt that little guy will pull! Yes, it's an interesting life I lead.

While I'm talking about Spence, I'll go ahead and share the "compliments" he gave me today while the two of us were sitting on the couch after reading a book:

Spence: I love your legs, Mommy.
Mommy: Oh, thanks Spence.
Spence: They're so bumpy! (I guess I need to start shaving above the knee.)

Spence: I love your cheeks, too!
Mommy: (a little worried) Why do you love my cheeks?
Spence: I love all the lines!

If he would have "complimented" my butt I would've grounded him!