I'm not funny.

The other day, after I tried to tell a joke, Meaghan sid that Daddy is funnier than Mommy, and that she tells loves me even if I’m not funny. And maybe Daddy could help me get funnier. (Sandy laughed and said that he had been trying for 20 years to teach me how to tell a joke but it wasn’t working)….So then Meaghan whispered a “why did the chicken cross the road” joke into my ear and then waited expectedly for me to retell it. She & Sandy then just looked with great pity on me when I retold it. In consolation she gave me a giant hug. Sandy said that was a great pity hug, and of course, Meaghan wanted to know what that was. I told her that was when you felt sorry for someone. She looked at me, thought about it, nodded her head and gave me another hug.

She brought me upstairs and went over to her stuffed animals and found one that would laugh at my jokes. She whispered another joke into my ear and held the animal up to hear me tell it. The “animal” laughed very hard and then Meaghan hugged me and told me that I give the best hugs and she still loves me.

She then got very gentle, patient, philosophical and very wise. (if you haven’t experienced Meaghan doing this then it is hard to picture. She sometimes does this, usually late at night. All the wisdom of the world is in her eyes.). She then went on a 5 minute talk…punctuated with gentle hands on my face and hugs…

If you are bald, you are still part of this world.
If you are blind, you are still part of this world.
If you are old, you are still part of this world.
If you are young, you are still part of this world.

Halloween

For Meaghan's Sparks (pre-Brownies) party she dressed up as a singer which meant that she went dressed in her everyday clothes. When ALL the other little girls arrived in their princess, or fairy costumes, I thought that Meaghan might be upset that she was dressed so differently from the rest. But not my girl! She marches to her own drummer.

And then she decided at the last minute to go trick or treating as a ghost. This meant that one of my sheets was sacrificed. It turned out poorly and she couldn't see out from under the sheet very well and she tripped over it. She didn't complain once. She had made her decision and while it turned out badly, she didn't whine. She is growing up!

Here are a few Halloween pics. The pumpkin on the left with Boo! is Meaghan's design. Meaghan lost her two bottom teeth in time to look scary for Halloween.

Sad day

Sad news for us….Family & Children Services has decided to close our file. Given our advanced ages (young at heart doesn’t count) and my health history (benign MS is still MS), we are not considered suitable foster &/or adoptive parent candidates.

When I told Meaghan she said, “My dream didn’t come true!” Poor kid. She has wanted a sister since she was a year old. She knows how to break our hearts.

Later she asked, “Don’t they know that older people are smarter?” That made me laugh! It was a bit ironic coming from a kid that KNOWS she is smarter than her parents.

Well, I’M so smart that I KNOW that I’m NOT smarter than MY parents!

Grade One is a big adjustment for Meaghan and she is definitely NOT pleased that the play time is drastically reduced. Her kindergarten teacher tried to prepare her for that but experiencing it is the only way she could understand. She is quite exhausted at the end of the day. Brain activity can really tire one out!

Face Painting

For some reason Meaghan loves getting her face painted. She lined up for about a half hour to get it done and then 10 minutes later she was rubbing it off.

Summer 2009

Our summer with Meaghan was a blur of activity. I created a mypublisher book to capture memories for Meaghan. It can be viewed by going to: www.mypublisher.com/bookshelf

Log in to see it using email: sharon.wallace@sympatico.ca & password: dragonslayer.

I love you madly...

Sandy always says, "Love you madly" when Meaghan & I drive away to school. The other day I happened to look in the rear view mirror and saw Meaghan's face after he said that. She looked very sad.

Me: "Oh honey, why are you looking so sad?"
Meaghan: "Mommy? Why is Daddy mad at us?"

Poor thing! We had a big long discussion after that about how strange the English language is, different expressions, and how a word can mean more than one thing. The look on her face nearly broke my heart.

Later that day she said something about how her heart was a pocket that could grow.

Meaghan: "Have you heard that one Mommy?"
Me: "No, I haven't."
Meaghan: "Well, it is a NEW expression."

I forget what Meaghan did but I was feeling a bit emotional about her growing up. I didn't think she heard my conversation with Sandy, but she later came up to me and kissed me very gently. She then put a hand up to my cheek and said, "Mommy, could a baby do this?"

Ghost Stories

Meaghan has a real soft spot for other kids who do not have as much as she does. One of the things that she asked for, for Christmas was some money to "give to poor kids."

But she is not 100% selfless. She did something good the other day and then asked what treat I was going to give her. I told her nothing but I thanked her for doing it. Meahgan didn't like that and said, "But Mommy, I sometimes give you things when you've done nothing impressive."

Before Christmas we were sitting around a pretend fire (candles only) in our livingroom. I asked if either Meaghan or Sandy knew any Ghost stories. Meaghan didn't answer but asked, "Does anyone have any nice stories about Mary & Joseph?" I guess I, as the adult, should have come up with that idea first!

Sandy & I were talking about something as children that we had trouble learning (can't remember now what it was - probably a memory game). Meaghan looked very sadly at us and said, "I didn't have any problems like you two."