The Mind of a Child

When I was a parent, I am sure I was too busy trying to teach, discipline, work, etc. to really appreciate the mind of a child. It is true they do make you see life differently. While staying 3 weeks with Trip and Quinn, I was able to revisit the ever evolving mind of a child. Amy and her sitter, Chris, thought is was time to start potty training Quinn. Amy asked me if I would work on it for her. He did really well, in that every time I took him, he would go, but he wasn't to the stage of realizing it for himself yet. I am sure that Amy and Chris will have him completely there before long. Quinn's 2 year old thinking is linear. He recalls things he has been taught. Example, if I use the potty, Gram will give me a M&M. Trip's 4 year old mind is much more complex. Example, if I go with Quinn and Gram to the potty and sing a nonsensical "potty" song to Quinn and he is successful, maybe Gram will give me a M&M too. Trip is constantly thinking. He questions everything and for every answer, there are usually two more questions. His mind is like a big sponge and he is soaking up everything he can. He has become fascinated with Heaven . Before I was there in April, Amy told him that her rolling pin was made by my daddy. After many more questions, he learned that both of my parents were in Heaven. When I was there in April, he told me that when he went to Heaven, he was going to tell my dad thank you for making the rolling pin. The following are some more conversations about Heaven from this visit:

After being reprimanded, he said that he wished that my mom wasn't in Heaven so he could tell her to put me in time-out.

He told Amy that he didn't want to go to Heaven. Amy said that he did want to go to Heaven but not until he was very old. She tried to think of the oldest person that Trip knew, which is Chuck's grandmother who is in her 80s and said that you would be even older than Momaw. He nodded and said but not as old as Grandpap (Scott, 58 years old) :)

On our last night, we were coming back from eating out. He asked Amy what my mom's name was. Amy said that her name was Memaw but she called her Meem. He picked up a toy cell phone and said he was going to call her in Heaven. The following is his conversation, "Hello, Memaw, can you come down from Heaven to Missouri and get Gram and take her to North Carolina? She needs help. 'Preciate it! Bye".

Thanks Scoggins for a great and enlightening visit. I love you all.