Why? What else? What? How? Why? Why? Why?

Today my ears just hurt. Not in the sick, plugged up way, but in the tired of listening to question after question after question. My dearest eldest daughter continues to be completely in the question phase. I try very hard to keep up with her and to answer her questions as graciously as I can, but after we have been at it ALL DAY, my ears just hurt. I know this is just the way she learns, but there are moments when I think that she does it just to wear me out. If so... it is working!

Tonight, though, Daryl and I spent a very lovely hour (at least) with Hannah at the kitchen table taking a walk down memory lane... our memories... from when we were little. It started as a distraction as Daryl tried to bring Hannah back from the edge it seemed like she was collapsing over (low blood sugar?). Nothing... I mean... NOTHING was going right for her. Her cheese was falling off her pizza. She wasn't hungry (or so she said) and she was hungry (or so she said). She couldn't wash her hands. She couldn't reach the oranges. Her cheese was falling off her pizza. Her pizza was hot. Her cheese was falling off her pizza. Mommy could do nothing right to help her and in steps daddy.

The first story was about Uncle Nell (actually a lot of those early stories were about Uncle Nell!) and his sailboat birthday cake. As I recall the story (I wasn't there), grandma (Daryl's mom) had baked a sailboat cake for Uncle Nell. She was trying to get a good picture of it and asked him to tip it up... oops... the WHOLE cake slide off onto the piano bench. Hannah giggled at this and suddenly things were looking up!

"What other stories happened when you were a little boy, dada?"

• camping out with Aunt Loree in a wind/rain storm
• dropping the frozen pizza onto the burner
• taking road trips across the country to visit great grandpa (car breaking down, accidents)
• stringing panty hose together as a rope between Aunt Loree's window and the barn
• feeding grease to the dog
• grandpa's homemade pole climbers breaking and sliding down the pole
• (There were more, but mommy missed some of them while I was putting Grace to bed!)

At this point, mommy returned from putting Gracie to bed. "What did you do when you were a little girl, mama?"

• camping trips with family and youth groups
• visits to amusement parks... riding the roller coaster
• boating with my friend Chris and drifting towards the rocks
• roller skating in my grandparents' basement
• tricking my cousin Janell into thinking we were really bleeding by using ketchup
• using my brother to pedal my bike with the banana seat (did anyone else have one of these) while I got a free ride on the back
• pulling my brother on his hot wheels while on my bike down a hill
• going sledding with my dad on his flexible flyer
• poppi making a homemade slide (when HE was a boy) out of a rough board... similar result to grandpa sliding down the pole

She was SO INTERESTED in what her dad and I experienced as a kid. Part way through the time, I got out some hot chocolate and marshmellows. It was such a fun evening with her.

So I suppose some days my ears might be tired, but I wouldn't trade these days for the world!