A Couple Cute "Noelle Stories"

~Noelle's Version of Humpty-Dumpty~

Ever since Noelle watched a video of the "biblical" version of the Mother Goose stories at the nursery several Sundays ago, she has been very concerned for this good egg's health. She told us repeatedly for days that she was sad because poor Humpty-Dumpty fell and broke off his face. Every time we prayed as a family, or during nap time and bedtime prayers, she would ask that we pray for him to get better.

So that she would not worry so much, we have tried to explain that Humpty is a pretend story, an imaginary character, that he is not really injured because he's not real. Well, these concepts are either above our daughter's head, or she likes the drama of the situation, because her petitions to heaven haven't ceased. (Maybe we should all follow her lead, as it says in scriptures to "pray without ceasing"!)

Over time she had begun to worry less about Humpty's eventual demise, and feels now that he has only a miner owie. We know she has made this transition because of the way she recites the familiar nursery rhyme:

Humpty-Dumpty sat on the wall
Humpty-Dumpty fell off the wall
I pick up all his pieces and glue up his face
Then I put band-aids all over him
And Noelle, Humpy, Daddy and Mommy all sit together on the wall eating eggs!

~Noelle's Tall Tales and Cat Tails~

Earlier this week we were having dinner with my parents at a local eatery. While we were waiting for our orders to arrive, Noelle entertained herself in the corner with some toys provided by the management. You see, this cafe has a child-size table and a bookshelf loaded with children's story books and toys. This particular evening there was a 9 year old boy sitting at the table when we arrived (turns out he is the grandson of the manager).

That didn't stop Noelle from plopping down at the table and introducing herself, i.e. "Whatcha doing? What's that? Can I have it?"

We all watched to see how the boy would respond. He simply smiled at Noelle, smiled at us, and passed his toy over for Noelle to look at. What a sweet kid! Someone's been teaching him right!

Eventually our food came and Noelle was reluctantly pursuaded to join us. She ate as fast as she could, then joined Alexander again at the play area. This time, his cousin Jaden (a bit younger than Noelle) had joined the fun. They set the table for teatime with a Disney tea set. The threesome chatted for a while over their pretend snacks. I was so amazed at how quiet and still our daughter was being, I turned in my chair to get a better view of their interactions. Apparently Alexander had explained to Noelle that the other little boy was his cousin and they were talking about their respective pets. Not to be outdone, Noelle launched into an explanation about her pets and one of her cousins.

She says, "I have two kitties, Stormie and Rainie," as she held up two fingers. "And our kitty, Shadow...," she paused dramatically, leaned her head to one side, and frowned, "Shadow is in heaven with Jesus."

She paused for a moment of silence, and the boys followed suit.

Then with quite a bit of enthusiasm and waving of her arms, she continues, "And I have a cousin Andrew," said with pride, "who has a doggie named Holly. And Andrew lives far, far away in Taiwan!"

What?! Oh my! When we pray for CY (the little girl we hope to adopt, we say she is far, far away in Taiwan. When Noelle recently asked where her cousin Andrew was, I told her he lives far away in Illinois. Guess she got a little mixed up!

Seeing Noelle interact with these two boys reminded me once again how precious our daughter is. I literally teared up as I watched our bright, engaging, happy daughter. I whispered a prayer of thanksgiving, as I have done a million times before - Thank you, Father, for this wonderful child!