things like:
private text messages….
i used to be able to text anything and everything to whomever i pleased. and before you think any differently, let me assure you that my texting repertoire consists mostly of texts to jeffrey about things the girls have said/done throughout the day, texts to my mom about a whole lot of nothing, a plethora of emojis, and texts to random friends about random things (i.e justin timberlake and jessica biel's baby, eyebrow raising fb statuses we all wished we'd never read, real housewives gossip, and the list goes on and on.) now that libbi can read, she thinks it is her personal mission to read my text messages. she loves to stand over my shoulder and read (aloud!) as i'm typing out a text. or if i'm out of the room and someone texts me, she'll gladly (voluntarily) read it for me. and then proceed to holler out the message to me…because actually bringing me my phone or letting me know i have text would be too easy. ;-)
secret messages….
at one point, jeffrey and i could have a conversation while sprinkling in the spellings of a few words that we didn't want little ears to hear. like, "i think it's going to be an early B-E-D-T-I-M-E tonight" " but those days are long gone. now that libbi can read, she can also spell. and even (especially) when we think she's not listening, she definitely is. i can see her little mind working as she repeats the letters to herself and sounds out the word. a few seconds later will come the response, "I don't want to go to bed early tonight!!"
(obviously laney's book was a real "page turner" and liza is just trying to figure out if this is, in fact, her nose) haha!
gameshows….
we thought a friendly game of family feud might be a good idea one night, but even game shows aren't safe. libbi was kind of halfway paying attention as we called out answers and played along. jeffrey would pause the tv at times and reword the question for her and let her guess before they put the answers on the board. she left the room to go play with laney and we all kind of forgot about the game show. when she came back in a few minutes later, she innocently asked, "what's booze?" and i shockingly said, "what??? booze?! where did you hear that?" as she pointed at the tv to the number two most popular answer which was, yep - you guessed it, "booze." oops.
personal belongings….
i usually do my quiet time and bible study either in the morning or during nap time. often times i would leave my bible study book and prayer journal out near the couch, especially if i know i'm going to be coming back to it shortly. that is, until i saw libbi perusing my journal one day. and not that i mind her knowing my prayers or what i'm studying, but there's just something a little too revealing about having your personal prayer life and heartfelt revelations read aloud by a five year old. ha! especially when said five year old wants to ask you about each and every little thing she reads. and why her name is mentioned so many times… ;-)
there's a certain "adult" store that we pass on the highway pretty much every day. for the longest time, libbi was convinced that it was a "jumpy place" (aka a place full of bounce houses where she'd like to have her birthday party… um, no) we kind of just let her run with that idea, because i certainly wasn't going to define the word "novelty" and explain that the kinds of toys they had were not party favors for a five year olds birthday. anyway, now that libbi can read, well…. let's just say she no longer thinks it's a "jumpy place." there's really no way to describe what it's like hearing your child sound out the words, "adult ent*ertainm*ent" from the backseat of the car. that's a conversation i wasn't prepared for - ha!
so while i am unbelievably proud of my little reader, there are also many moments that leave me speechless. ha! i'm pretty sure this picture describes my feelings to a tee:
now let's all go out and read a good book - or a scandalous billboard ;-)
