tickled.

toddler speech can have someone tickled in less than a millisecond.

they say the most hilarious things and have such interesting and pure observations.

toddlers also have little quirks, nuances that leave one tickled as well.

for henry, he is a man of order. the pictures below tell the story.

I have another photo (that I can't seem to find unfortunately) of his cars lined up perfectly from the den into the kitchen.

last thursday at tumbling was another example ... they have these discs (similar to frisbees) that you can stand on with your feet and slide/skate. the discs were all strewn about in one corner. henry noticed this, stopped his bouncing, went to that corner and stacked them all up on top of each other in a neat little pile. it was all I could do not to laugh.

a few recent funny things he has said:

• our babysitter came over and was singing a song. henry asked, "what song are you singing?" she replies, "oh, just one that got stuck in my head." henry responds, concerned, "all the way in?" "what?" she says. henry asks again, "did it go all the way in?" (meaning the song). she figures this out and chuckles. henry, still concerned, "did it hurt?"
• henry walks up to me with one of owen's blankets wrapped around his shoulders ... "mommy, I'm going to get married." "really?" I reply. "who will you marry henry?" "I am going to marry mommy."
• we were reading a book about box turtles. one page described that box turtles do not swim. "why don't they swim mommy?" "because that is how god made them." later in the book the turtle eats some grapes. henry inquires, "why is he eating grapes mommy?" (why is a very big question in our house) I respond, "you tell me why he is eating grapes." he replies wiht no pause at all, "because that's how God made them mommy?" {sweet}
• henry was looking at a magazine with halloween costumes. he saw spiderman & batman costumes. "mommy, spiderman is spooky." "no henry, spiderman is a good guy. he and batman protect people from the villains." henry says, "what's a villian mommy?" me, "villains are not so nice people who don't have Jesus in their heart." silence. a few minutes later he come sup to me to inform me of something. he says, "mommy, batman and spiderman are good guys. they are good because they have Jesus in their hearts."
• during the first couple weeks of school, as henry would leave his classroom, he would wave and say to his teachers, "bye bye ladies!" what a flirt. :)
• at school, they have a playground with the cozy coupe cars. his teachers asked me the other day, "what is the ponderosa?" I explained that is our affectionate term for our land on whihc we will build a house one day. they replied, "every day henry plays on those cars. we ask him where he is driving to and he always replies, to the ponderosa!"

there are so mnany more. needless to say there is a lot of laughter around here.

it is good for the soul. indeed.