Stinky Boys
Driving home with Ethan and my two ‘nephews’ in the back of the car, I stop at a light and catch a whiff of an all too familiar smell.
Stinky Boys.
What is it about little kids, combine them with other kids and a playground on a remotely warm day and they will create a unique funk that is all their own.
It’s not particularly offensive, it is distinctively salty, musty and reminds me of gummie worms that been in a pocket for at least 6 hours, offered up like my husband’s favorite bourbon.
It’s warm enough today to roll the windows down a little bit and the boys stick their dirty fingers out the window and wave at the cars we pass by.
“Auntie Mae, let us play the never stop game just one more time!”
Ayden shouts out like a proper little English child, a product of lots of Thomas the Train.
The ‘Never Stop Game’ is something Hank made up with Ethan where you simply never let the car stop rolling, even at stop lights. You just have to stop far enough ahead to let it ever so slowly inch ahead until it’s green again.
The children really find this delightful.
They cheer me on and the drive is almost over before I know it.
I get three dirty handed hugs when we get out of the cars at home, and at first I cringe because I’m wearing my nice work clothes.
As always, my better sense takes over. I think, these times are all slipping past me too quickly.
And they really are.
I watch the boys chase each other up the stairs and onto the porch, two 5 year olds (almost 6) and a 4 year old – all of them have never known a life without each other.
Their mother is my best friend.
I smile.
It’s so… small town.
The boys bound over each other into the house, chasing after one another into Ethan’s room,
“What will we play?”
“I am not sure, but please don’t mess up my room!”
A few minutes pass and Zay, the littlest comes in to see me,
“Auntie Mae, tan I puweez have some mwilk?”
The combination of his vast vocabulary and sweet baby talk makes him irresistible conversation.
I pour a glass, sit with him at the table and talk with him for a few minutes, brushing the sweaty blonde strands from his forehead.
It’s so easy to be busy.
It’s so easy to rush around and always have some engagement, some phone call, some meeting, some dinner, some place to go.
There’s always that thing you forgot to do.
There will always be an extra item on your agenda list that you didn’t finish.
I try not to let these time be it.
Those big eyes look up at me from over the top of the glass and there is no where I would rather be,
Than with this stinky little kid.
Stinky Boys.
What is it about little kids, combine them with other kids and a playground on a remotely warm day and they will create a unique funk that is all their own.
It’s not particularly offensive, it is distinctively salty, musty and reminds me of gummie worms that been in a pocket for at least 6 hours, offered up like my husband’s favorite bourbon.
It’s warm enough today to roll the windows down a little bit and the boys stick their dirty fingers out the window and wave at the cars we pass by.
“Auntie Mae, let us play the never stop game just one more time!”
Ayden shouts out like a proper little English child, a product of lots of Thomas the Train.
The ‘Never Stop Game’ is something Hank made up with Ethan where you simply never let the car stop rolling, even at stop lights. You just have to stop far enough ahead to let it ever so slowly inch ahead until it’s green again.
The children really find this delightful.
They cheer me on and the drive is almost over before I know it.
I get three dirty handed hugs when we get out of the cars at home, and at first I cringe because I’m wearing my nice work clothes.
As always, my better sense takes over. I think, these times are all slipping past me too quickly.
And they really are.
I watch the boys chase each other up the stairs and onto the porch, two 5 year olds (almost 6) and a 4 year old – all of them have never known a life without each other.
Their mother is my best friend.
I smile.
It’s so… small town.
The boys bound over each other into the house, chasing after one another into Ethan’s room,
“What will we play?”
“I am not sure, but please don’t mess up my room!”
A few minutes pass and Zay, the littlest comes in to see me,
“Auntie Mae, tan I puweez have some mwilk?”
The combination of his vast vocabulary and sweet baby talk makes him irresistible conversation.
I pour a glass, sit with him at the table and talk with him for a few minutes, brushing the sweaty blonde strands from his forehead.
It’s so easy to be busy.
It’s so easy to rush around and always have some engagement, some phone call, some meeting, some dinner, some place to go.
There’s always that thing you forgot to do.
There will always be an extra item on your agenda list that you didn’t finish.
I try not to let these time be it.
Those big eyes look up at me from over the top of the glass and there is no where I would rather be,
Than with this stinky little kid.
Labels: Car Ride, Games, life lesson, stinky kids, Thomas the Train
posted by Megan Champion at
9:45 PM
2 Comments:
What are you on about, woman? I know for a fact that two of those children are given a bath by their mother every, single Christmas Eve! Sometimes even on Memorial Day if no pool is available!
Next time you have them I'll let you borrow my Sprog Spritzer: an old Windex bottle I keep filled with Listerine to spray them down with when they insist on being in the same room with me. The whole effect is a bit "doctor's office," but that smell is preferable to the alternative.
Women. You romanticize everything. Even the sour tang of kiddy spunk presents an opportunity for soft-eyed emotional retrospection.
I'm going to take a shower now.
Awww it isn’t all that bad now is it?
I DO love the romantic, but you cant deny that my feet are still firmly planted on this solid ground ;-)
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