Sunday, March 30, 2008

Eggnog, Love, and Archery…from a Preschool Point of View


By L.A. Kohl
November 15, 2007

I know…I probably write about the funny things my children do or say too often. But, if I may be allowed to relate with and paraphrase Anne of Green Gables, “If you only knew how much I could say and don’t!”
With that being said, I thought I’d fill you in on some of the cute things our four-year-old son has done lately.

Yesterday, after my weekly grocery shopping outing, I came home with a bargain-priced carton of eggnog. I knew there would be a few children anxious to taste the season’s first glass, and as I was pouring it for any who wanted some, my ever-eager Josiah said, “Sure, I want to try it!”

I knowingly gave him a small amount, and after a few sips of it he declared, “Mom, I don’t like this chicken milk!”

Dad quickly announced that that one was good enough to go down in the “Kohl Kid’s Journal of Funny Quotes."

A week or so ago, my younger children had been reading silly little jokes from the Laffy Taffy I had bought on clearance after October 31. Thus, they had been rattling off quite a few silly questions/answers to whoever would listen to them. At one point, while we were driving to Columbia, our six-year-old daughter asked, “How do you make a girl fall in love with you?”

Josiah assumed it was another joke, and he piped right in…
“Oh, I know this one! I love this one – it is so good!” he exclaimed, while bouncing up and down with excitement, but pausing for effect before blurting out his brilliant answer, “You KISS them!”

“No! That’s not right,” replied his all-knowing sister who is an entire year and a half older than him. “You give them a Valentine heart, silly!”

With all this female influence, he should be an extremely well-trained young man someday.

And now, in honor of deer season, I’ve saved this next story until last…
My husband Nate has bravely let Josiah tag along with him on a couple of bow-hunting outings this fall. He knows that when he does, he hasn’t much chance of even seeing a deer, much less shooting one…but he has lots of fun anyway.

Josiah excitedly gets on all of his hand-me-down camo clothes, and his mini, hand-me-down compound bow (many of our friends with sons take pity on Josiah and pass on all kinds of stuff to him, so he doesn’t have to wear and use his six big sisters’ stuff). Once, dad even did Josiah’s face up with the camo make-up – he didn’t bother washing it off for the rest of the day.

On their first outing, they were both just getting settled onto a nice, secluded log, when Nate heard a “whoosh." Josiah had already shot off his first arrow.

“What are you shooting at?” his dad asked curiously.

“I shot that tree right there!” Josiah exclaimed excitedly, and then went on to say, “Come on dad, now you shoot something!”

“Well, I was planning on waiting until a deer came by,” was his father’s optimistic reply.

A few minutes later, Nate drew Josiah’s attention to some squirrels that were frolicking in the nearby treetops.

“Hey, I bet I’d be good at shooting squirrels,” was Josiah’s enthusiastic response, “since I’m so good at shooting trees!”

I think he gets his optimism from his father.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

i have enjoyed reading thank for sharing your story Greeting.