Four Wonderful Children

"Holly, can you say bye, bye?" I coaxed my curly haired baby girl, covering my own eyes as I said it.  "Bye, bye.  Peek-a-boo!"  and I quickly removed my hands and grinned at the cheery face of my daughter.

She giggled and beamed, her whole face lighting up.  Holly had two of the cutest dimples you ever saw when she smiled, and looked just like a Gerber baby.  "Come on, sweetie,"  I encouraged.  "Say bye, bye."

Holly held her little hands over her ears, grinned happily, and cooed, "Bye, bye.  Bye, bye."

We all broke up laughing, then grandma scooped the tiny thing up and gave her a big hug.

I'm sure I was biased, but I really did have the cutest kids, and my family thought so, too.  And the smartest.

One day in church Linnea just couldn't settle down.  She went from grandpa to grandma, and finally was passed down the pew to me, kicking and squirming and not being good at all.  In exasperation I stood up  and started to carry her out.

"Momma, don't spank my bottom!" she exclaimed at the top of her lungs, plenty loud enough for everyone in the chapel to hear. 


"Please, Momma, don't spank me, don't spank me," she continued as I walked even faster past the rows of laughing worshipers.  I'm sure my face was red, but the only thing I could think to do was get her out as quickly as possible.  After church everyone patted me on the shoulder and thanked me for the entertainment.  Even the Bishop laughingly told me it was nice to know I too, beat my kids.  Yeah, right.

I have to admit I did spank them occasionally.  This was long before spanking was even an issue, but a swat on a fully padded and diapered back side probably didn't help much.

On the other hand, my kids were pretty good at teaching me lessons.  Like the time I lost Linnea in the clothing racks at Penny’s.  We were Christmas Shopping.  I had my hands full carrying Russell, holding onto Holly's hand, and trying to find something nice for Grandma.  Suddenly I looked around and Linnea was gone.  I panicked.  Where could she be?

Pushing through the racks of clothing, I stooped to see if I could see her little legs under the hanging shirts and pants.  I couldn't see her anywhere.  In desperation I picked Holly up, too, and dashed around the isles, calling "Linnea, Linnea.  Where are you?"

By this time I was so scared I thought my heart would break right out of my chest it was beating so fast.  I rushed over to a sales table and asked the lady behind to please help me.  She calmly picked up her microphone and announced that we had a little lost child in the store.  In less than a minute another sales lady appeared, holding Linnea's hand.  She'd found her on the other side of the woman’s clothing, trying to find her momma.  Thank goodness!  From then on I made sure I either had a shopping cart to put my children in, or else a stroller, but I never let them walk by themselves again.

Of course, that didn't always solve the problem.  After Alyssa was born I still had to run errands, but with four children now.  One day I walked into a store, holding Alyssa on one hip, pushing Russell in the stroller, and instructing Holly and Linnea to each keep a hand on the stroller, too.  I only had to return one item, I wasn't going to look around or anything, and hopefully it would only take me a minute. 


I had to stand in line, but everyone was good and stayed right where they were supposed to be.  Finally I got my turn at the counter and explained to the man what I needed to do.  He was helpful and took back the item without any problem.  As he counted out my change I looked around to make sure I still had all my kids.  Linnea and Holly were standing by my side and Russell was in the stroller. 


"One, two, three," I counted in my head with one part of my brain as I concentrated on what the man was saying with the other.  "Three?"  that part  thought, "there's supposed to be four now.  Desperately I turned around and looked for my other child.  "One, two, three,"  I counted heads again, this time paying more attention.  I was forever counting children when we went anywhere, usually eight or nine kids since I was nearly always babysitting, but this time no matter how hard I counted I only came up with three.  Now really frightened, I turned to Linnea and Holly and asked, "Where's Alyssa?  Can you see her anywhere?"

"Mom," Linnea said with a puzzled look, "You're holding her."

Right.  I took my money from the man, stuffed it into my purse, and quickly left the store, feeling like a fool while laughing at myself at the same time.