Veggie Tales, Anyone?

It's so wonderful to be living in a house full of young children again. Of course, "wonderful" was not the term I would have thought to use when I was actually an older sister in the house with younger siblings. In my present situation, I definitely have the "out-of-family" advantage of experiencing the celebrity-esque admiration of the youngest darlings!


But all the same, ...

In a house with young children, everyone stops to laugh at the two year-old when, at the dinner table, he drops a piece of meat off of his fork and exclaims in his young baby-accent, "Oh, man!"

In a house with young children, you begin to remember what it was like to hear--but not really hear--the warnings of "stop jumping off the furniture, or somebody's going to get hurt." But now you marvel at the daily routine of after-dinner jumping and rough-housing and getting hurt; you marvel at the patience and love of mothers who daily comfort the hurts that they were just warning against; and you realize that mothers never stop doing this, even after their children have become adults.

In a house with young children, it is magical to see the older siblings play with the younger siblings. Every game can be stretched across the age gaps. These brothers, who are eight years apart, will only become closer as they grow older:


In a house with young children, everything becomes make-believe. It's fun to play a game called "Orphanage," where the "Orphanage Keeper" tells everyone to go to sleep and then uses a broom to bop those on the head who make noise.

In a house with young children, there is plenty of imagination to go around. "Hospital" is a game achieved with a few sisters, a few pieces of wood, a shower cap, and a tissue:


In a house with young children, even the older siblings can come to know and love the innocence of childhood programs. Everyone learns to sing along with Bob and Larry and Junior Asparagus in the car on the way to and from Mass on Sundays. And even when no one's looking, the teenagers cuddle up with Veggie Tales characters...!


And in a house with small children, you never know where you'll find the best graffiti of these powerful role models:


Can you see that? Look closely:


I am going to miss living with this family in a few weeks!