Long, but interesting... to some

A few funny Abigail stories from our Texas, Colorado trip this year. I will add pictures later, as I left my hard drive at my parent’s house!!

1. Abigail refers to all uncles as ‘Michael.’ I know from experience that having lots of uncles can be confusing (especially when two of them are twins), so even though we are working on it, I’m sorry to say that I don’t know if she will learn your names for sure for a while!
2. I came into the kitchen one day while we were in Breckenridge and some of the kids were eating lunch at the table. I was fixing Abigail’s lunch and she went and climbed onto her cousin Elsie’s chair. I tuned in as Abigail, face to face, looking intently into Elsie’s determined eyes, said, ‘You HAVE to share. I soft you. You okay.’ This was accompanied by a short-lived loving pat on the side of Elsie’s face. Short-lived because the appalled Elsie (older, did I mention?) was not anywhere near being talked into sharing her chair. She started back in a way that let Abigail know that her ‘soft’ was not accepted. I turned away to laugh at this point (instead of saving poor Elsie) and I’m not sure what happened, but Abigail did end up retreating. I guess I should mention here what Abigail means be ‘softing.’ I, like most mothers I suppose, would always tell Abigail, “softly!” as she reached to pet babies or animals, hoping for the good of the other creature, but also for Abigail’s good in the case of a defensive cat or dog (who are all too aware of the damage toddlers can do to one’s pride and physical being). Also, as we perused the fabric stores, I would, in an effort to entertain and teach while on a certainly selfish mission, have Abigail touch the fabrics and talk about how they felt. Of course, we want to touch the soft ones, don’t we? So, I would pet Abigail’s little hand on the fabric and say, ‘soft.’ You probably share the experience with your little ones. Well, all this translated in to Abigail’s mind that ‘softing’ is ‘petting.’ When at Grandma’s house and the cat walks by, rubbing it’s furry tail on Abigail’s little leg, she excitedly exclaims, “Kitty soft me mommy!!!!!” A few weeks ago when I was putting Abigail to bed, she called me back as I was at the door, “Wait! I soft you mommy!” I returned to accept the caress of her little chubby hand over my hair and face- she, quite proud of herself; me, with my heart about to melt out of my chest. It is hard for me to correct these little words that aren’t quite part of the English language. We always talk with her using with ‘correct’ English, and I often immediately repeat what she said using the correct word, so I know that they will fade away relatively soon. Right now I treasure the sweetness of it!
3. We took a family picture out behind the house in Breckenridge, in a small wood that made up the backyard of several houses on the circle (How often do you get to use the term ‘a small wood’? I am grinning profusely inside and feel like I’m right up there with the likes of Tolkien and Lewis). We took some time to take extra pictures of Elsie and Abigail, since two little girls are a novelty to Hanson families. The girls held hands as they walked back through the woods and I heard Elsie say to Abigail, “You have to be careful. There’s alligators.” Abigail nodded in agreement and they both took a second to peer into the tall grass before them before continuing on.
4. Abigail loves bugs. She is the one who grabs a tissue and picks up the dead ones to throw away when I am unwilling- I can’t take any credit, Jake trained her to do that. I try to hide my irrational, though common, fear and disgust, hoping that she can revel in this time of exploration, unafraid to look at these little creatures our Lord has made. It has actually helped me a little too, causing me to actually try and catch crane flys and moths for her curious little eyes to inspect closer, and sometimes even succeeding! While in Colorado and Texas, we had at least three ‘pet’ lady bugs join us in our adventures and shopping, along with ants, butterflys, rolly pollys, leaf bugs, beetles and other insects. We went to a restaurant in Colorado Springs and I took Abigail to the bathroom, telling her she had to throw away her dying little lady bug and wash her hands. She was quite distressed at this and to distract her, I put her up on the counter and exclaimed, “Look how tall you are! You are way taller than Mommy.” She looked down into my eyes with a thoughtful expression and then asked, “I can drive?” OH my goodness. This also deserves a little bit of background. Abigail and I often talk about how, when she gets bigger, she can drive. In fact, a few weeks ago and lasting for about a week, almost every time we went to the car she asked, “When I get bigger I can drive?” As far as the lady bug is concerned, he did go in the trash, but Abigail was okay. She later said, ‘There’s LOTS of bugs here.”