Flyin' Jesus and Other Original Lyrics by the Middle Child

I'm having a third baby. And I am convinced that he will be the Smartest Human Being to ever live on this planet because he is sure sucking the brains outta me.

I am woefully behind on my writing, but every time I get a chance to sit in front of the computer, my brain goes into "boring mode" and all I can think to write about is my recent obsession with Pandora's "Disco" station (surprisingly motivating for Monday morning bill-paying hour) or the cute things that Sarah is saying right now - but I don't have the brains left to add any extra descriptive matter in order to make the words especially worth reading. Not that Sarah's cute sayings need much.

Take this gem, as we are on our way to Ladies' Class Wednesday morning (running late even though we left way early, thanks to an accident-related traffic jam): "Maybe Jesus can fly us to Ladies' Class?" 

She was quickly rebutted by her wiser older brother about the logistics of Saviors and flight, which led to an off-the-deep-end discussion of the Second Coming, but whatever. I'm still enjoying the mental image of the Messiah flying our minivan across central Fort Worth.

Sometimes it's not so much what she says as how she says it... she can entertain her father for hours with her new talent of "looking sidelong." Or is it called "cutting her eyes"? Whatever it is, it's pretty hilarious, and always done with a Mona Lisa smile. And then done again. And again. And again. Until I finally bark at P to stop laughing at her so she'll finish eating her dinner already...

She used to fuss at me when I forgot to say "bless you" after she sneezed ("MOMMY! BLESS YOU!!!!"), but apparently she's given up on reforming my manners and instead says it for herself, using a soft sweet-old-lady voice and then following it with a demure giggle: "[sneeze] Bless me! [tee hee]" It's so weird and it cracks me up every time. I don't think she knows how entertaining it is because when I look in the rearview mirror to see if she's lapping up my amusement, she is usually just looking out the window with a self-satisfied smile, as if she's thinking, "I'm just the most proper little young lady in the world. They are so lucky to have me."

Today, she was putting her baby doll down for a nap in its crib and sternly told me, "You have to be quiet. The baby is sweeping. I can talk wowed because I'm the mother." Hmmm. I know I must be the source of this message somehow....

Incidentally, she finally started saying her "L" sounds a few weeks ago - and then promptly stopped saying them again 15 minutes later. I was so excited and so bummed at the same time - and then bummed and excited again when she resumed that special way of saying everything the wrong way... My mother suggests that it was cruel of us to name the first child "Luke" so that every other child would have to struggle through that beginning L on a regular basis. Personally, I think there's nothing so entertaining as a red-faced two-year-old trying to give her older brother a stern reprimand by barking out the word, "Wook!"

Sarah loves to sing, and she prefers to use her own lyrics and tunes. One of her biggest hits is "I Don't Know What To Do," a little ditty she composed on our last visit to Gram and Paps's house (she even made me go inside so that she could sit on the back porch steps and sing it to herself for a while). The next time you see her, you should ask for a performance. It's quite moving.

She is frequently in the song-writing mood, but she is especially driven to compose when she is upset about how the world doesn't always do what she wants it to do (and by "world," I mean myself or Luke, of course). "I Don't Need a Bath" is a popular hit of hers, for instance. A few songs are less angst-y, such as, "I Go-ed Tee-Tee in the Potty" and "We Are Going to Watch a Movie."

Yesterday, she and Luke and I had a long discussion on the way to Sam's Club concerning the phrase, "You snooze, you lose," which Their Father had taught them a few days prior. (Thanks, P.) By the end of the shopping trip, I realized that Sarah had been happily trilling out a new song - "You Snooze You Lose!" - to every person we passed. I'm sure that made for an encouraging evening for those folks....

I promise I'll get around to more news about Baby Number Three one of these days (and how much sleep he's already costing me), but for now, it feels good to have taken care of the middle child just a little bit. You know how they tend to get left out... although something tells me that our little "pwincess" will never allow herself to be overlooked in this family.