..:Yahtzee:..

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Children...Revisited

About 4 months ago, I got to babysit the Goodyear children and lived to blog about it. Today, I get to do it again. What does today have in store for me? More good times? Absolutely. A fierce bludgeoning to the gonads? Probably. More kids shows than you can shake a stick at? Definitely. Either way, I think it's gonna be good times.

**UPDATE**
I survived!!!! I had a fantastic time at the Goodyear's. I only got 3 punches to man business, so I think that's a sign that yesterday was a good day. The kids spent a good amount of time watching cartoons, so I found myself having some time writing one of my papers. When they weren't watching TV and I wasn't working on stuff, we were goofing around and sending MonkeyMail. If you haven't tried it, I must urge you to try it. It's something that allows you to send a customized message that comes from a monkey. The first time I saw it, I was doubled over laughing. After sending my first one to my brother, I ended up sending 15 more to other people in a matter of 30 minutes. Yes, it can be THAT addicting!! And judging from the kids' response, they really liked it too. Each of them customized their own monkey and sent one to their mom and dad. But on one of 'em, they collaborated, and this is what they ended up with.
At around lunch time, Miranda came by and played with the kiddos. It seemed like they had a really great time with her. In fact, I'm willing to wager that they had more fun with Miranda than they had with me. Probably because she's much cooler and prettier than I. Plus, being an Italian is so much more appealing to kids than an imported Mexicasian.
One funny thing that happened was watching Sam constantly asking what time it is because at 3:30, Natasha was supposed to come over and take her to the library. The first thing she says when I get there is 'NATASHA IS COMING OVER TO TAKE ME TO THE LIBRARY!! NATASHA IS COMING OVER TO TAKE ME TO THE LIBRARY!! I'M SO EXCITED!!' 20 minutes later, she asks 'what time is it?' I say '9:20'. 45 minutes later she asks 'What time is it?' I say '10:05'. Every half hour, she would ask what time it was, so after about 2 hours of this nonsense, I told her to look at the clock on the microwave. Although it was slightly on the annoying side, it really warmed my heart to see how much she loves Natasha.

Sam, Luke and Jake were fantastic kids who love living life. To see them enjoying life in their own unique ways makes me wonder why growing up means to lose such lust for living life to the fullest. Maybe it's the expectations society heaps upon us to "act our age" and view life as seriously as possible. Granted, there's a lot of crap in the world, but there's also so much to discover and wonder about. When kids approach certain experiences, more often than not they dive right in without and hesitation of consequences. Granted, this may get them into trouble, but imagine the joys they would have missed if they waited and assessed the situation before making their decision. Maybe us grown ups can take a small lesson on what we can learn from these kids, the same kinds of kids that Jesus found himself loving and absolutely adoring with every ounce of His being. Instead of replacing the mysteries, uncertainties and wonders of life, maybe going out and doing something spontaneous is a place we need to frequent. Instead of wondering what people may think of us, maybe we should simply go and start a conversation with a total stranger. Instead of caring about what we'll get in return, maybe we should secretly give away something that means a lot to us. Let's bring back the awe and spontinaity and mystery of life that society has done so well in siphoning out and see what happens.

5 Comments:

At 10:14 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey don't be shakin' a stick at me mister!!!!!!



sam (ONE OF THE KIDS YOU HAVE TO BABYSITT)!!!!!!

 
At 1:19 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i had the pleasant joy of joining kevin at the goodyear's. i missed the kiddies so much as i hadn't seem them in over a month ... but that soon diappeared as my non-existant goands were being attacked too. NAH! those kids rock and the cartoons were fantastic! thanks for the invite kev!

 
At 9:09 AM, Blogger Jaci said...

Protect the gonads...we're not sure we can have children because of the stomping Rich takes on his. I think Chewie has decided to remain the baby of the family and stomps at least daily. (And by stomps I mean leaps up from the floor, on to the bed, and lands directly on him - all 72lbs of her landing on one little paw.) It's Wednesday now so I hope you survived!

 
At 6:13 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks Kev (tear rolling down eye)





SAM

 
At 10:52 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've been thinking along those lines lately. Been wondering what it is I hope to teach my kids - what kind of adults I hope for them to become... and one thing that keeps coming back is that I hope they won't care what people think. That they'll love life and people recklessly and wholeheartedly - even (or especially) if they look like fools.

 

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