"Lizard I Can Be"

Oh my! Christmas is in less than a week. I can't believe it. Every year brings many familiar feelings. When we pull out the box of decorations I still stop and reminisce at particular ornaments or knick knacks. I'll think back to my bursting anticipation as a child at Christmas time. Or I'll think of the adventure of buying and setting up our first Christmas tree as a married couple.

We went to tree lots and were flabbergasted at just how much it cost to buy a real tree. We ended up at Wal-Mart picking out one that had been laying up again the front of the store. We Got it home and realized we had no ornaments except the one stuffed bear ornament my grandmother gave us over Thanksgiving. It has two bears holding a heart that reads, "Our First Christmas Together 2002."

Now as I pull out the ornaments I get to tell Judah about where each came from. He enjoys reviewing the decor he has traditionally chosen over the years. This year he was very excited to adorn our tree with his new pick of the season, Rudolf the Rednosed Reindeer.

Judah get so excited now that he's older. He loves everything Christmas. Trees, snow, lights, cards, Santa, Nativity Scenes, and Christmas Carols.
The latter, carols, has become so consuming the season. He listens to Christmas music 24/7. He even listens to it while he sleeps.
Because of all the frequency, he's learned the words to nearly every song, whether he meant to or not. I over heard him singing "Mele Kalikimaka" the other day. I was so surprised at how well he knew the words. The the next morning he woke up singing "Holly Jolly Christmas" As I listened closely I had to hold back my laughter.

He Sang: "Have a holly jolly Christmas..........Oh, ho, the mistletoe, hung where you can see. Somebody waits for you, LIZARD I CAN BE."

We can't tell him the real line, it's just too funny right now. "Lizard I can be," has become our anthem around here this year.

"You Ran That Race in a Second"

"Mommy, you're so cool. You ran that race in a second"

It's good to be a super hero in someone's eyes. Those were Judah's words to me as I explained to Kenton, "I was second."
I let him think I was that fast for a few hours, then I had to tell him, "No, I was the second finisher, or second place, it took me a little longer than a second."

Saturday the 6th was The Jingle Bell Run. Along with many lovely people, We raced a four mile course on a beautiful December morning.
I was blessed to set a new PR and officially finish in 27:59. I was the second female finisher for the course. That is where Judah got the clever idea about my finishing time. I was awarded a sweet gold jingle bell for being the fist to finish in my age group.

The Fish and His Boy

As incentive to work hard at school and gain green happy faces, we promised Judah a fish.
Judah had been struggling to obtain many green happy faces in his first few weeks of school. We made the deal that once he filled a whole week with good marks, we'd take him and buy him a "rainbow fish."
After several near successes, he did it. On October 19, 2008, we went to Wal-Mart and brought home a lovely little beta fish.
Judah named him, Loupy-Doupy-Ooup. Kenton and I called him Lou for short.
Lou quickly adapted to our home and became a little member of the family. We hadn't had much luck with other fish before and after a few weeks, we were so happy to see Lou thriving in his little bowl.
Judah decided to officially change his name to, "just Lou, it's easier."
As it got colder, we moved Lou in to our bedroom, because the kitchen was so chilly and now we all were growing really fond of our Chinese Fighting Fish.
Once in our room, I found myself observing him more and eventually talking to him.
"Hey Lou, how you doin' buddy?"
Judah would pop in and say, "hey buddy, it's me, what 'cha doin'?" Or, "Hey Lou, I drew you a picture of us together so you won't be lonely when I'm gone."
We taped the picture up on the bowl and had a magnetic L resting on the front of the bowl for a while too.
"Mommy, Lou starts with 'L', I'm going to give it to him, 'L' for Lou."
Lou even began to show a vivid interest in anyone who would come up to his bowl and talk to him. He'd flutter right over to the glass and start flapping his fins rapidly.
I thought I was going crazy. I told Kenton, "He's a strangely social fish, I think he likes people."
After the laughs and jokes, people started seeing what I meant. He really was social and likes people to talk to him.
We had grown so attached to a three dollar fish. A reward we thought wouldn't make it through the following week was now a deeply loved member of our family. A family who never really has or ever intended on being pet lovers, had become emotionally invested in a fish.

This morning we discovered Lou had jumped out of his bowl. He had done it hours prior. There was no hope in bringing Lou back. Lou was gone.

It was ten minutes until school started and I was a blubbering mess. I knew we couldn't tell Judah before school. I tried to get it together and dropped him off.
The sting in it all was that we had made plans to go to the pet store after school to buy Lou a Christmas present, per Judah's request.

Kenton made plans to be home from work so we could talk to Judah together. When Kenton told him that Lou had jumped out, Judah thought we were joking. He was laughing, because he knows his Daddy is always making jokes.
My face screwed up as my eyes welled with tears, "I'm so sorry baby, he really did."

Poor little boy. His little smile was erased so quickly and replaced with tears and a trembling lip.
I grabbed him and held him tight as he sobbed into my shoulder.
All he said was, "I want him back."

Lou was too special to receive the traditional burial at sea, he was placed in a small box and buried in the yard. One of Judah's large river stones marks the spot where our beloved Lou lies now.

As we placed him in the ground Judah squeaked out a, "bye Lou."
We came in and held one another. Kenton asked him what his favorite thing was about Lou. With tears still pouring, he said, "He would flap his wings when I talked to him."

I don't like being a mommy today. I hate watching him go through this.