Somebody Get That Boy a Sandwich

Had a funny conversation with Tyler tonight as I was preparing supper. I had my back to him while he was sitting at the kitchen table and I was at the stove. He asked, "Do you know where would be my favorite place to go?" In my mind I was thinking, "It's gotta be Disney World" when he said, "It's a toss-up between the Kandy Kastle and Gumdrop Mountain." I turned to see that he was looking at the Candy Land board (like the good big brother that he is, he had just finished playing Candy Land with Sawyer a few moments earlier) and I just burst out laughing. And I'm telling you, he went on and on and on about how great, how AWESOME it would be to go to Gumdrop Mountain. "I love gum drops. I mean, gum drops are SO good! Ohhhhh, I L-O-V-E gumdrops!!"

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Overheard tonight at bedtime:

Sawyer: "Mom, may I give Darcy and Peyton goodnight hugs?"
Me: "Yes, you may."
Peyton: "Sawyer, give me a kissy!"
Sawyer: "No, no kissies!"
Then he climbed up the ladder, gave Darcy a hug and said, and I quote, "Goodnight, kiddo."

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Sawyer and I spent most of the morning at the library. As much contempt in which I hold the Arlington Public Library, I must admit I like the Woodland West branch because it's dead and we always have the place to ourselves. Anyway, Randy called while we were there and asked if we wanted to swing by and pick him up for lunch. That man has developed a serious jones for restaurant food. I'll bet he eats out 4-5 times a week. Anyway, I said sure so we picked him up and ran to Chicken Express.


The place isn't much to look at but we love their chicken tenders. I thought Sawyer was literally going to eat his weight in chicken tenders--just to give you an idea, we ordered a 12-pack of tenders. I ate TWO. Randy ate five. We took one home. You do the math. Lest you are worried that Sawyer is going to grow up to weigh 400 lbs., rest assured that is NOT normal. And guess what? That wasn't even the point of the story!

So while we were there, a man approached our table. He was young-ish, maybe late 20s/early 30s, very average. And he said, "I just want to compliment you on your extremely well-behaved child." No, he wasn't talking to me about Randy. He was talking about Sawyer. Sawyer! See, all those stories that have led you to believe that Sawyer is some wild-child are patently untrue! They're lies, I tell you, lies! Seriously, he is such a good kid and I had no problem believing (or accepting!) the stranger's praise.

I had to wonder, though . . . what must this poor man see on a daily basis? I mean, for him to compliment a four-year-old on his behavior in a Chicken Express??? This isn't five-star dining we're talking about! Still, I'm thankful for the compliment. It reminds me of a comment my friend L made recently: I sang for a funeral last week, on Friday in fact, and Randy did as well so that meant Sawyer needed to come with us. To tell you the truth, since Randy was just recovering from the flu and still had a bit of a cough, the plan was for me to pass Sawyer off to him when I got to the building, and Randy would sit with him during the service.

All was going according to plan until we got TO the building. I couldn't find Randy so I took Sawyer with me to the room where the singers were going to rehearse. Fine, no problem. But when Randy showed up to take Sawyer, it turned out that Sawyer didn't WANT to go with Daddy, he wanted to stay with Mommy. And whatever Sawyer wants, Sawyer gets! I have a pantry full of cereal straws, fig bars and Pringles to prove it. Apparently Mommy has a hard time saying no to Sawyer where snack food is concerned! Seriously, I was like, "Oh well, he's fine, he can just sit quietly with me." But when we got into the auditorium, he decided he wanted to sit with "Mr. Ken." Ken is one of our elders and the first person Sawyer met when we came to Texas. If you look back in the blog, you'll see that I wrote about Ken taking us to a Rangers game.

But I digress. So he sat through the funeral and was just as quiet as a mouse, as good as gold, as . . . oh, you get the point. And someone made the comment when it was all over that Sawyer was "just so good." And L said, "When they can be good when it counts, that's when you know you've done something right!"