Be careful, Little Ears, what you hear

It was Thanksgiving. Brad and I were sitting on the couch in our pajamas watching the Today Show while the kids played. There was a segment about keeping the peace with the family over the holidays, and the psychologist suggested that Thanksgiving was not the time to bring up sensitive topics or come out of the closet.

At that point, Brad turned to me and said, "Erica, I have something I need to tell you. I'm a gay."

Nick, who was passing by, looked at me and said, "Mommy, I'm a gay."

...................................................................................................

We went to the dreaded rat hovel (aka Chuck E. Cheese) on Monday. After Catie ate two bites of pizza and we released her to play again, she began to arrange the chairs into a choo-choo train. (There were only about 10 people in the whole place.)

Then she said, "Mommy has a seat. Daddy has a seat. Catie has a seat. Everybody has a seat! Does that sound good?" in her best "mommy" voice.

The mommy voice shows up pretty often around here lately.

"You want a fruit snack? Okay," she says to herself as she sits down at the table.

"Oh, no! I dropped my ____________," she cries out in the car. "Oh, no. It's okay. Mommy's driving. When we stop we'll pick up your toy."

You know what I love most about the mommy voice? It's not that it's funny, but it definitely is and it makes me laugh to hear her answer her own questions. It's also not because she can calm herself down, even though that helps me immensely.

No, what I love most about it is that her mommy voice is soft and gentle and kind. I'm happy to see that (with a lot of prayer) I'm doing it right often enough to leave that kind of impression on her.

Now if I can only keep my husband from saying things we don't want repeated.... :)