Shhh! Don't talk so loud!

We have reached a great point with Mikey. It's that stage when a child is very observant--too observant for their own good. Mix that with the desire to share every thought a child has with you and the inability to talk in any level other than maximum decibels and you have Mikey. So by "great" point I mean "embarrassing" point.

Some examples:


The first one happened a few days ago at the pool. There was a man there who only had one leg. I had noticed him a little earlier, but didn't take any thought of him. Later in the family locker room, in comes that man. Lance saw him just as he heard Mikey, "Hey dad!" He knew exactly what was coming next and tried to stop it. "Mikey, be quiet, let's go." Mikey, undeterred, couldn't get over this new sight. "Daddy, that guy only has one leg!" Lance continued to try to quiet him and move him along. "Yes, Mikey sometimes people get hurt."

Mikey was quiet for a moment, obviously thinking. Suddenly he pipes back up, "He must not be able to drive good at all!" At that point, the nice man turned around and nicely asked Mikey's name. He then called him over and showed him is prosthetic leg (as he didn't have it on prior due to swimming). Mikey thought it was the coolest thing and long after that wanted to go back and see it again. Thank goodness for a nice guy who frequents a gym filled with kids who probably have done similar things.


Next up happened during our experience donating blood. Yes, we were crazy and took our kids, but we only remembered the drive last minute. We had to trade off watching the kids. While Lance was back getting his finger pricked and answering questions about any questionable activities engaged in since 1977, I was desperately trying to keep the kids in the gym and in a relatively small space. Suddenly I looked over to the cookie and juice corner just in time to see a woman faint. Mikey didn't notice right away, but with all the fuss everyone gathered and started watching the scene unfold. They got the lady lying down, but she was unconscious. Suddenly Mikey noticed. He took one look and yelled to me "Is she de...is she...is she killed?!" I quickly tried to pull him into me and tell him quietly that she was just sleeping for a minute. (She was fine, by the way.)

An hour later, both of us were done with paperwork and Lance was hooked up to the needle. This time we were sitting over by the cookies to try and keep the kids quiet. Suddenly they rolled a man out on the gurney who had apparently fainted a while before and hit his head. He had been lying behind a screen while they tended to his head. And once again, right as the man rolled right in front of us, Mikey yelled, "Is he killed, mama?!" Of course Lance missed both occurrences. Luck of the draw for me, I guess. (Lance note: what the?! what's with this donation center? I've never seen so many people faint and hit their heads. Every time I turned around someone else was either on the floor or on a gurney. It was like an episode of ER or something.)


And lastly. This happened tonight. Luckily it was within the quiet walls of our own home. After dinner I was in the kitchen cleaning up a little and Mikey and dad had returned to their Wii bowling game. Suddenly Mikey called to me:
Mikey: "Hey Mama, we have what you have!"
Me, confused: "What?"
Mikey: "We have what you have!"
Me: "What do you have that I have?"
Mikey: "You know, those things that have milk?"
I stopped and thought, "No, he can't really be thinking that." I looked up at the same time to see this, Mikey's Wii character on the TV screen.

Yes, it was what he was thinking. (For those not familiar with Wii characters, those are actually arms.) Mikey continued, "Remember? Luke had to eat from them? Hey, dad! See!? We have what mama has?" Lance and I were both shaking with silent laughter that brought tears to our eyes.

Oh, Mikey. He brings just a bit of fear each and every public outing.