When we got home, we tried to slow things down with a viewing of Wall-E. Scott and I enjoyed the movie. What little we saw of it between “hug attacks” and “What’s that?” bombardment. (NB: This is a kid who can follow Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen so I know he’s full of piss and vinegar when he claims to be unclear about a Pixar plot. Lord.
And then, when the movie was over, he just went into all out Momaholism. Sweet JESUS, he was all over me. He battered me with his adoration, requiring me to lie on my back and hoist him in the air on my shins until my abs hurt. Then, he catapulted into my arms until I was ready to cry. Scott took over just before I broke, but within forty five minutes the kid was back to clinging to my legs like a little limpet laughing madly and screeching at the room. We took him for a twenty minute bike ride around the block, but it had no impact I could see.
So he barnacled for another twenty minutes. Then I stuffed him in his sisters shoes (his own being quite well hidden) and took him on another walk. I am not making it up to say he hop-toaded the first quarter mile of the hike on concrete. You know. Moved on hands and feet together. Seriously. He decided we were making Grinich Spinach and plucked random grass from neighbors’ yards for the next half mile or so. By the final quarter mile, I was looking for my elderly neighbor to see if maybe he needed a personal weed trimmer. One who could pluck the grasses one by one.
And then, in a flash of green, the lightning bugs came out. The first ones of the season. The first ones in Sam’s memory. (Last summer is gone for him. Just gone.) He knew what fireflies were, but had never (as far as he was concerned) seen them before in his life. He chased them through yards and up the sidewalk, and into someone’s open garage. And for just a few minutes, he stopped acting like a complete banshee. For that tiny span of time, he was just an ordinary little boy, chasing fireflies, wearing his sisters sandals as he jumped over every crack in the sidewalk.
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Jessie Powell is the Jester Queen. She likes to tell you about her dog, her kids, her fiction, and her blog, but not necessarily in that order. |
That last line made me teary. Lovely piece.
Fireflies are just the best.
Thanks, Diane. I absolutely agree. I grew up in the country, where fireflies are plentiful. I worry that my kids will miss out on things like this growing up in the city. But then, we get country trips, or the insects show up in town, too.
I wrote a piece about fireflies for a story last year. Being a city girl, too, I had never seen them until I took a trip to Italy in 2009, when in the low hills on the outskirts of Siena, the fields on each side of the road became alive with them. Amazing!
When he matures, I hope he’ll realize what a good mother he had growing up.
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There are days when I’m the world’s worst Mommy, and I live in terror that those are the ones he’ll remember, instead 🙂
Your last sentence made me tear up…and smile at the thought of him running around chasing fireflies. 😛
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I really REALLY live for those moments with him. They only come sporadically.
Momaholic… why in all my years in loco parentis and with my own wee monster, have I never come up with that term for that behavior?
And yeah, that last line is a doozy. Good for Sam.
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I can’t take full credit. Scott said, as he prized Sam off my legs for the umpteenth time, “OK, you little Momaholic, you need some Daddy time.”
That sounds exhausting but great. I have some really fond memories of fireflies from my childhood too.
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My kids ask the best questions. Sam wanted to know (and the answer is yes) if lightning bugs were how people figured out glow sticks.
There’s fireflies appearing all over blogdom this weekend, how magical! And as for Sam, bless his little cotton socks. Or his sister’s sandals. 🙂
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Haha! Yes! It’s all about the footwear with him. He thought he’d get out of the walk if I couldn’t find his shoes. (They turned out to be behind the couch against the wall.) And by halfway around, the sandals were rubbing his toes all wrong, and he was annoyed that I had NO sympathy.
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Terrific post – I can see him in his sister’s shoes, chasing fireflies.
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