Five Minute Friday (on a Monday... yeah...) ~ When your littlest says to you, "Mama, I noticed that I can read..."

If you follow this blog at all, you know that I normally post a five minute write as part of one of those blog communities every Friday. I didn't last week. 

It was a busy week.

Actually, it was an insanely busy week! 

1. Brendan was still on meds after having his wisdom teeth extracted + the roads got snowy and potentially icky and he has ZERO experience driving on them yet... which meant either Mama or Dad got to drive/ride with him as he drove to school last week;

2. Tim (aka Dad) spent a chunk of time out in the woods trying to shoot Bambi - no success yet, in case you were wondering, but he has seen the same buck several times now and is still hoping to get a shot at him, which meant Mama was the one driving with Bren... and was also the one keeping things going at the house the bulk of the week;

3. Orthodontist appointments... two in one morning!;

4. We visited with one of our partnering churches on Wednesday evening - great fun - the AWANA crew there was awesome! - but... it added to the craziness of the schedule; 

5. I'm busy doing some writing as a part of the application process for the ESL certification class I'm hoping to take the first half of next year; and

5. Rebekah was traveling... 3rd... 4th... or something crazy like that... week in a row, so Mama was picking up her household chores/duties.

By the time Friday rolled around, any oomph to write had gone on strike.

But, when I saw last Friday's prompt, "notice," I KNEW I had to write on it... 

So, here we go... a 5MF... on Monday!

"Mama, I noticed that I can read..." she said.

"What, honey?" I chirp distractedly and not really even hearing what she'd just said. "Um, actually, you'll have to wait a second while I pull Elsie Mae's snowflake sugar cookies out of the oven," I continue.

"Can I help ice them, Mama?" Elsie Mae asks? "I want the snowflakes..."

"Mama? Did you hear what I'm saying to you? I noticed that I can read!" M&M tries again.

"Ummhmmmm, that's nice..." as I continue with my cookie making. 

"Mama, stop!" and she reaches up to try and grab my hand just as I'm scrambling to find a trivet or oven mitt to sit my very hot, very cookie-laden - with very delicate cookies that I very much don't want to have break - baking sheet on.

"Step back before you burn yourself!" I almost-sorta-bark at her. 

"Mama, I don't think you are listening to me!" and a tear slides down her cheek.

Which stops me in my tracks. 

So, I sit down and pull her up in my lap - she's now covered in flour, too. "I'm sorry. You are right. Mama was busy and she wasn't listening to you. What are you wanting to tell me?"

With excitement, she repeats for a third time, "Mama, I just noticed that I can read!"

"And how did you notice that?" I prod, just a little.

"Well, you know the Coke bottle in the other room?" And she hops off my lap to run in and get said Coke bottle. "It says, 'Share a Coke with Tom!' See? Tah... mmmm... Tom. Those aren't just letters. They say, 'Tom!' Am I right?"

"Yes... you are..." I grin.

"You know what I think, Mama?"

"Are you getting ready to tell me?" as my grin grows even bigger.

"Yep," she giggles and then continues while giggling, "Sometimes I think you just need to notice when I notice!"

I laugh out loud and say, "You know what? I think you are absolutely right!"

And you know what I noticed through this whole exchange? She may be my littlest, but with all those biggers out there paving the way, she's growing up fast and I'm so blessed to get to notice not just that, but all of those other unimportant, important details of growing kids!

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Linking up with Kate for a (late) 5MF!