Bits of Nothing.

Last Sunday at church, Lucy slipped her hands on to my belly and said, "Mommy! Your belly is HUGE!!"

Oh, thank you dear sweet child of mine. Good thing she never saw me what I was pregnant with her and her massively giant twin brother. In my last month of pregnancy with them, I silenced an entire McDonalds just by walking in. People pointed. People stared. People whispered behind their hands. I wish I were exaggerating. There's a picture in my archives somewhere... taken a week or so before I delivered. I'm bigger than my television set. I think I just got a new stretch mark from thinking about those days.

I'm not so big this time around, but apparently still big enough to elicit exclamations of wonder from my children. It's still fun though... the three oldest are old enough to sit with their hand on my belly long enough to feel a kick. It's awesome to see their faces and realize that they sort of "get" this whole baby growing thing. They are also more tolerant when I say things like, "No, I can't carry your fifty pounds to the car just so your feet don't get cold. Baby in the bellly, remember?"

Instead of begging and pleading like they normally would, they generally surrender and go and put shoes on. Because you know, wearing shoes and coats in the middle of December is SUCH a novel idea.

Does anyone else have coat battles with their kids? My oldest insists that he does not need a coat. Ever. It's twenty degrees outside and he's wearing a t-shirt and he argues with me about whether or not he needs to wear a jacket to school. I've finally convinced him that if for no other reason than to spare my reputation as a mother, he has to at least carry his coat to school. That way, his teacher won't think I'm neglecting the basic needs of my children. This has always been a problem with Jordan. When he was in kindergarten and would sneak off to school without a coat, they would send him down to the lost and found bin when they went outside for recess, since he wasn't allowed to play outside without one. Why he preferred this to actually taking his own coat to school, I have no idea. I half expected a letter around Christmas time letting me know  Jordan had been selected to receive a nice warm winter coat from some nameless charity.

Silly little stink. I think he thinks he's invincible.

I knew another kid like that once. Many years ago, we lived in an area that was close to an Indian Reservation. Many of the church members in our ward lived on the reservation. One little girl in particular had a great deal of pride in her heritage. In Sunday school one afternoon, I felt our classroom was particularly chilly, and I asked if anyone else was cold. This sweet little girl, ten or eleven at the time, folded her arms across her chest, looked me straight in the eye and said, "I'm an Indian. I don't get cold."

I still smile when I think about her.

So what have we covered? My belly is big, my children are silly, Indians don't get cold, and the world keeps turning round and round. I'm so glad that today, I could contribute to the tremendous wealth of useful information floating around the blogosphere.