I know I always post these little conversations that Noelle and I have. I hope you enjoy them, I sure do. I suspect I will always enjoy them, and when I look back in life the thing I will miss most about her childhood is listening to her develop her own thoughts on this world. She is a clever and bright child, and WOW is she wrapped in a blanket of emotion. She and Jolie both process things that are totally unexpected and are both very verbal, so I get the pleasure of hearing what they think. So here is a little clip from our life.
Yesterday I was getting ready to leave, and of course, Noelle had to hang out with me in the bathroom as I got dressed. She, out of the blue, said "Mommy, I wish you were five." I was flattered, because she is five. So I said, "I used to be five Noelle. I used to be little like you." She said, "REALLY MOM! You used to be FIVE!?!?!" "Yes, Noelle. What would we do if I was five like you...?" And matter of factly she said, "Then we could play together... I could hold you and swing you in the blue towel, like you used to do to me when I was little" (I always think it is funny when kids refer to themselves as having been little.) "Could you swing me in the towel like that again Mom? " "Well, Noelle, I really can't swing you anymore, you are too big."
If you haven't seen Noelle in person in a while, you may not realize how tall she is. I am 5'2" and she is four feet tall. She has her fathers genes. I brought her over to the mirror and made her stand in front of me and look at herself. I rested my chin on her head and said, "Look at you Noelle, you only have this much to grow before you are as tall as me...You are going to be as tall as Grandmommy!" Of course, Noelle started to get upset... She is resistant to growing because upon first understanding this concept, became seriously terrified that she would never stop growing and eventually "crack out of the house". I immediately said, because I know she is scared of being a giant, "You will probably stop growing when you are close to being as tall as Grandmommy..." She said she didn't want to be that tall, of course. Then I told her how I always wished I could be a little bit taller and that I wished that I could grow as tall as Grandmommy. So I picked her up and carried her around at my height and showed her the room from my perspective. She thought it was fun, so I lifted her up and showed her what it looked like from Gram's height. She thought it was great.
Here is the truly funny part... She then said, "Maybe you could grow as tall as me Mom. Maybe we could grow together." So I said, "Maybe I will grow Noelle. Or MAYBE I will grow little instead! Then I could be five!" She got so excited, and with no prompting, said, "Maybe you could grow so little that you could shrink small enough for me to carry you around in my hand!!!! And I would take you everywhere with me. That would be so funny!!!"
You may not know this about me, but I have always loved little miniature things. When I was a kid I tried to catch the Pillsbury Dough boy because I was fascinated with how small and adorable he was. Whenever I love something I have always said that I wish I could shrink them and carry them around in my pocket. I have never said that around Noelle. I mostly forgot about it. Several years ago, I would say that I loved Chad so much I wished I could shrink him and carry him around in my pocket with me. My friend Stacey was amused by this, and for my birthday one year she made me a tiny little pocket sized Chad doll to carry in my pocket. It was cute.
I told Noelle about the little tiny Chad and she is so excited that we are going to dig it out of the memory trunk so she can have her little tiny father to carry around with her. Isn't that just so funny?!?!
