A Summer Miracle

I feel like we've finally settled into summer. Yes, I do have a summer class - but it will be over in two weeks. Other than that, we're enjoying riding bikes, playing outside, blowing bubbles, water fights and - oh yeah - multiple rainy days and thunderstorms. We all seem to be thriving on the slower pace that our lives have taken for the summer. I for one have been amazed at how well the boys have been playing together. They go outside around 9am most days, and are pretty much outside until bedtime (with the exception of a couple of hours in the afternoon when I really must just snooze in my chair because I'm exhausted and nauseous, but hey - they need the rest too!).

The boys' play never ceases to amaze me. Today they were putting little pieces of gravel on a "popper" (hard to explain, but if you're a parent of a young boy, you probably know what this is). Kirby's job was to explode the "bomb" - the popper with gravel on it - Connor's job was to collect the individual pieces of gravel. Somehow, he always gets the jobs nobody else would want. All of the play does sometimes take it's toll, and is manifested as squabbling and tattling.

Yesterday, when the boys' nitpicking got beyond annoying, I slammed on the brakes in a parking lot and forbade talking. About two minutes later, Kirby begged to be able to talk to Connor again (isn't that amazing?)

"I don't know Kirby, I don't think you two even like each other - why would you want to talk to each other?" I asked.

Both boys together: "We like each other...we do!"

"It's just that Connor kept singing and I asked him to stop and he wouldn't and then when I begged him to stop he still wouldn't," Kirby whined.

"Yeah, and Kirby kept making this buzzing noise, like this - 'bzzzzzzzzzzz'!!!" Connor yelled over the top of Kirby.

I drove on in silence, waiting for them to figure it out by themselves. All of a sudden, Connor started singing the same little ditty that annoyed Kirby the first time.

"Hmmmmm.....la la la.......hmmmhmmmhmm...la la" (all the while casting sidelong glances at Kirby).

Kirby put his fingers in his ears and closed his eyes tight without saying a word to Connor. As he did this, I reached my arm around my seat and swatted at Connor's leg to get him to stop. He got immediately quiet and then Kirby opened his eyes, took his fingers out of his ears, and with a look of utter amazement, said:

"Mom - it worked! It really worked!"

"What worked?" I asked.

"I prayed to God that Connor would stop singing, and he did!" Kirby exclaimed.

Ahhh...the power of prayer!