stories

Alternate title:
Julianna's Asleep, A Goat's Mommy, and Tree Hugging

A while back when we went to the beach there was one night where I lost track of time for some reason. I scooped Julianna up from one condo and carried her down to the other one to get her ready for bed. Jonathan was on the computer doing something and he usually puts her to bed, but he just told me he'd be there in a little bit. Well, a little bit came and went and I just went ahead and put her to bed. It turns out that I had the time all wrong and I was actually about 20 minutes earlier than usual.

Anyway, I had just closed her bedroom door, turned the monitor on, and sat down on the couch when Jonathan walked in. He didn't see me sitting there on the couch and called out something like, "Where are you?" as he headed down the hall. Next we both heard Julianna call emphatically from the bedroom, "I going to sleep!" and as he walked bath into the living room we were both trying our best to stiffle our laughs.


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We call my grandmother Mama Lou. Somehow she got a couple of goats to keep for a few of her other great-grandkids. Julianna has visited these goats a time or two and has become very fond of them. The other day in the car Jules said something about "Mama Woo" and I couldn't understand her. I just asked her, "Jules, did you know that Mama Lou is Pap's mommy?" and she paused for a bit thinking about that. Then I said it again, "Yes Mama Lou is Pap's mommy." She declared, "No, no, no, Mama Woo Buddy and Daisy's mommy."


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We dove by a log truck on the highway the other day. In an effort to STOP THE WHINING (ahem) I pointed it out to the little girl and I asked her if she knew what the truck was carrying. She stopped whining and started listening (amazing how that works with 2 year olds...). Anyway, I told her that they were trees and that when the trees were cut down they would fall over and the people would pick them up and put them on the trcuks like that to take them somewhere. I could see her in the rearview mirror as she kept staring at the truck. Then she said, "trees?" and pointed out to the still-standing trees on the side of the highway and I replied, "Yes, that's right. Like those trees." Then as she looked back at the truck she told me the oddest thing.

She said, "I want to hug a tree." I thought, "That would make you a tree hugger, my dear."