Silly Stories

Those of you who know Luke well know that he is very much a creature of habit. He likes to know what to expect. He eats oatmeal every morning for breakfast and peanut butter every day for lunch. He anticipates questions that he knows you’re going to ask, and says them aloud before you can do it. He loves routine. As I mentioned, oatmeal is part of the daily routine. He has watched me make oatmeal since he was tiny, but I don’t think he’s ever paid attention to the raw oats themselves. The other day he climbed up on the step stool in the kitchen and saw the bowl of oats on the counter. He put his fingers in them and said, “Mommy, this oatmeal is WEIRD.”

Even though I know what he’s going to say, I ask Luke what he wants for breakfast every morning. When he says “oatmeal,” I tell him we have to go make it. He helps me measure it out sometimes, and then we put it in the microwave. He also has helped me make cookies. (That’s background info for this next anecdote.)

We’ve been talking a lot about Christmas and going home to Texas and Santa. He is very excited about Santa, except he is still learning little bits here and there about him. The other day he was pretty sure Santa lives in heaven with Jesus… Anyway, we were talking about the things Luke wants for Christmas. He’s actually asked for toys lately, like a basketball and a set of his own keys. I’ve said, “Well, maybe you can ask Santa to bring it to you for Christmas.” (Gosh, I hear echoes of my mother in my voice.) The other day he asked me how Santa gets the toys. I told him he has to make them at the North Pole. Luke said, “In the microwave?” “In the microwave?” I replied. Seeing the connection he made in his mind, I laughed and said, “No, silly, not in the microwave.” “In the oven?” he asked next. Of course, I explained that toys were not like oatmeal—they’re made in a workshop by elves, not in the microwave by Mommy!

We’ve also been talking a lot about Jesus and the things He would want us to do. (Funny story about that later…) We talk about how Jesus wants us to obey our parents quite often, actually! He asked me the other day where Jesus is. I told Luke Jesus lives in our hearts, and that he also is in heaven. His answer was, “So Jesus is with Mimi’s kitty?” (Mom’s cat died this year at 18 or 19 years old. Mom and Luke have had some discussions about where Kitty is now and why she isn’t around anymore.) I was pretty impressed that Luke remembered those discussions and that he put together the ideas that both Jesus and Kitty are in heaven together. She’s probably sitting on His lap right now meowing incessantly to be petted and asking to go out!

So on the note of what Jesus would have us to do…I was convicted this week about my own selfish behavior while trying to teach my son to share. We have an Egyptian acquaintance, Youssef, who works as a driver for a doctor in our neighborhood. Youssef has young children, and he and his wife invited our family over one evening for a visit about a month ago. Luke and I run into Youssef frequently as we walk to and from Luke’s school. Youssef likes to joke with Luke. He points to Luke’s shoes and says, “These are my shoes.” Or to Sweet Puppy and says, “This my dog.” This disturbs Luke quite a bit. He gets very worried and sternly says, “NO! These are MY Elmo Blinky Shoes!” Or, “NO! This is MY PUPPY!” Despite Luke’s frequent protests, Youssef insists on joking with Luke in exactly the same way each time. Now Luke heads him off. As soon as he sees Youssef, he says, “These are MY shoes. This is MY puppy.” Unfortunately, he now thinks that all Egyptian men want his shoes and his puppy, and so he greets total strangers with a scowl and tells them the same thing. We’re working on that.

Last week we were walking home from school. Luke and I had just stopped at the market to get a package of cookies, and we were eating them on the way home. I saw Youssef down the street and tried to get Luke to offer Youssef a cookie. Luke did NOT want to share. I walked him through the dialogue of offering a cookie to his friend. After sharing a cookie and saying goodbye, I told Luke that Jesus would like us to share our cookies with others. And then I remembered a scene from the night before. We were at McDonald’s ordering ice cream. I asked Jason if he’d like me to order one for him and one for Luke in addition to the one I was getting, or if he would like to share his ice cream with Luke. (Notice I said if JASON would like to share. I do not share dessert.) After ordering only 2 ice creams, Jason got really disgusted with me when I wouldn’t share with Luke. Of course, I was disgusted with him because I thought I’d made it clear that I didn’t want to share. Anyway, as I was trying to impart spiritual wisdom to my son, the Holy Spirit convicted me that just as Luke shared his cookies, Jesus would also have wanted me to share my McFlurry!

Mom bought Luke a few pairs of shoes before we moved. One is a pair of Elmo blinky shoes. Luke love, love, loves them. When I put them on him for the first time I was afraid they were too big. I asked several times, “Are they too big, or do they fit your feet?” He insisted they fit fine (and indeed, he gets around in them without falling down all the time!). I think he still worries that I’ll decide they’re too big for him, because he periodically tells me, “Mama, these shoes fit for my feet.”