What is Normal?

You know the saying "Now remember, to the rest of the world we are a HAPPY, NORMAL family"?  Well, this is what I have been trying to portray to the rest of the world.  The truth is, my family is anything but normal.  The sign says it most accurately.  

The following is just a glimpse of what we consider "normal" in our family.  See if you can relate to any of the following.

18 year old loves to read, instead of doing homework, housework... Chats about her day late into the night with mom, while lying on the foot of parents bed and trying really hard not to wake up dad.  (I love these little chat sessions, it's when I feel closest to her.  If your teen wants to chat, DO IT!   It will be the best time you can spend with them!)  Cleans room only when absolutely necessary (like when there is NO clean laundry to be found anywhere - I often wonder what is being worn -- oh no, got to stop wondering THAT, it might get scary!)  Only comes home long enough to eat, shower and sleep.  Can't wait to move out on her own and become her own "self".

Ok, so SHE sounds like a VERY normal teenager.  And as teens go, she's a really good kid.  One down, two to go….

5 1/2 year old boy loves to watch dragon movies (Hiccup & Toothless are his favorites).  Plays dress-up (usually as a cowboy or super hero). Sings countless renditions of "Love is an Open Door" with his oldest & youngest sisters (they really aren’t that bad either).  Loves to be "daddy's helper".  Builds amazing creations with his Lego sets (by the way, don't step on a Lego - it defines pain in a whole new category).

  Plays with trucks and cars and LOVES to play on top of dirt & compost piles.

Ok, so HE sounds pretty normal.  Two down, one to go…

3 1/2 year old girl loves to wear pink, sleeps with a "silky" blanket, plays with Little People play people/animals.  Ok, here's the kicker… she loves to play in the dirt!  Yesterday she found a worm.  She proudly brought it in for me to see.  You see, I had two of my friends over to visit, they both had little girls of their own, and instead of playing dolls with the other girls, Emma played outside in the wet dirt (not quite mud consistency - yet).  As we were looking for the other girls' shoes and socks so they could go home, little Emma comes in and shows us her "prize" findings for the day.  It was a tiny little worm, clearly a baby of its kind.  After ooohing and ahhhing over this "treasure", I asked her to take the worm back outside, which she did.  After saying my good-byes to my company, I went to check on my little excavationist and to see if she did in fact put the worm back in the dirt.  Well…as I walked outside, she was pulling her hand out of her back pocket…..yup!  You guessed it!  She had put that tiny little worm in her back pocket so she could play with it later.  I thought only BOYS did things like this!!!  She only put the worm back into the dirt after I told her that the dirt is where it can grow big and strong and that she will have the opportunity to "visit" the worm at a later time.

 

Ok, so not quite normal, but am I close?