The Mind of a Child

I almost always enjoy seeing life through Jewel’s eyes. Yesterday, on our way home from taking family portraits, Jewel started making this noise in the car. It was terrible. If I had to give it a name, I’d call it Dying Velociraptor. Well, I was already in a bad mood (family portraits, ugh), so I turned around and asked her to stop.

She said, “Why won’t you let me squeak?”

“That noise drives me up the wall.”

She was confused. “But you’re so big. You’re not supposed to be on the ceiling.”

And there you have it. At once both illuminating and ridiculous. I love it! Thomas and I couldn’t help but laugh.

Stories like these bring to mind experiences from my childhood, but as a parent I now see them in a whole new light.

For instance, when I was in elementary school and living in Michigan, I was a Girl Scout. And as a Girl Scout, I was obligated to sell Girl Scout Cookies (Mmm... Thin Mints). So, my best bud, Angela and I would go out door-to-door in my neighborhood and hit up the neighbors for petty cash.

This was a great plan. Until we got to that house. That house, which looked just as innocuous as every other house on the block, was terrifying. That house had... dunh, dunh, dunh... a scary note!

The note said: “Please knock. Kid napping.”

Now, my adult brain goes all calm and rational and says, “Oh. They have a young child who is asleep. I must knock instead of ringing the doorbell.” But my not-calm, not-rational little kid brain said, “AAAHHHHH!!!!! Kidnappers!!!!! AAAHHHHH!!!!” And we ran all the way back to the safety of my house and my mom.

Mom laughed, but not too hard. She’s nice like that.