Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Tea Party

I wake Abe up from his nap at 5pm. Late, I know. I lay next to him in his bed and he sloooowly wakes up. Lots of stretching and long blinks. I ask him, "Want to have a tea party?" He stares at me blankly for about 5 seconds then says in this soft, sleepy voice, "Yeah, sure."

Pause for another 10 seconds or so.

"Mom? What's a tea party?"

We sit at the table with a fresh pot of Barry's tea, pitcher of milk, sugar bowl, cups, spoons, toast with butter and jam. He is so methodical about doing exactly what I do, putting small spoons of sugar in his tea, then stirring, not wanting me to help him with the little milk pitcher.

His spoon is covered with sugar, which he is licking. I tell him he can put it in the tea, and he cuts his eyes at me and says, "I like licking things."

Ted comes in the room and Abe asks him, "Dad? Would you like to join us?"

He's in the middle of a work project but says he'll come back later.

Abe says, "Mom, I like this tea party. Do you like this tea party? This tea party is great."

We quietly drink our tea. He tells me a long story about something funny that happened in a Little Bear video, ending with, "And then I laughed. That was funny."

More quiet sipping of tea.

He says, "Mom, would you like to talk about sumpin'?"

I say, "Sure, what do you want to talk about?"

He pauses a quick second and says, "Let's talk about life."

No kidding. My son actually says this. I stop myself from cracking up and crying all at once by biting hard on my bottom lip. Oh the love of a two-year-old boy who wants to discuss life.

I ask him what he thinks about life, and he says, "What do you think about life?"

I tell him that I think life is pretty great.

Later, we're reading this book, one of our favorites from the library, and he tells me, "Mom, I want that girl to jump out of the book and be my sister." He's starting to talk a lot about big sister. He regularly tells strangers we meet that he's going to have a sister (on a side note, I'm dying to find Abe some tshirt saying something about being a "little brother in training" or the like but can't seem to find anyone catering to our particular brand of adoption t-shirt needs...let me know if any of you know of something like this).

Last night, we put Abe down for his regular bedtime. Three hours later, he's still awake. He's laying in his bed kicking the wall. I tell him to stop. He stops. I walk across our bedroom right across the hall from his, and the wood floors of our old house creak. He snaps to attention: Hello? Helloo-oo? Dad? Daddy? Hello? ...3 second pause... Doe a deer, a female deer, ray a drop of golden suuuuun... (at the top of his lungs).

No more strong Irish tea at our afternoon parties. Only chamomile or mint for our boy from now on.

15 comments:

Staci said...

You can make that t-shirt for yourself! There are a ton of online stores where you can design your own t-shirt with your own words, images, etc. PRETTY INEXPENSIVELY:)
Staci

Staci said...

I have no idea why the last two words of the sentence in my comment were capitalized. Wasn't yelling at you:)

Anonymous said...

this is what an Etsy search turned up: http://www.etsy.com/listing/39366344/big-brother-or-big-sister-in-training?ref=sr_gallery_3&ga_search_query=brother+in+training&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=&order=&includes[]=tags&includes[]=title

not so cute...

I love the way you share short stories... vingettes... of life. they're so simple and sweet! and I would love to sit down for tea and discuss life with mister Abe.

Lisa said...

What a sweet and funny post!

My friend used the below site for t-shirts she got us:

http://t-shirts.cafepress.com/ethiopian

There are lots, some of them for brothers.

mama becca said...

so sweet. is he done singing jingle bells for awhile? sam's still going strong... :)

Evelyn said...

Your son sounds like a perfect tea party companion.

Sara said...

You could also check out zazzle.com and make your own.

Julie said...

What could be better than tea with Abe Rooney?

los cazadores said...

I have to admit when I saw the title I could really nervous. And excited. Secretely and shamefully hoping it was a scathing post excoriating Rand Paul.

But this is so much, much, much world's superior. Tea with Abe, beautiful, talking about life and his sister to be. He sounds like is a very thoughtful, heartmelting child.

I can't wait til Olly Ash can sit still for tea.

(btw, Not that even the most miniscule fraction of Rand Paul is worthy of your blog or attention.)

Cindy

los cazadores said...

Oh ya, I meant to say too that we have that same book and we all pretty much love it. I love her Planet hair.

Como un planeta!

And her Garden crop row hair.

It's such a lovely, inspiring book.

Cindy

Engendo said...

yea I definitely dig the cafepress. and what a fantastic day. :)

Tara said...

I think I love abe Rooney. I'm cracking up! Your stories make my heart melt! He seems so thoughtful and wise at his ripe old age of 2. Sweet lil thing...

Anonymous said...

LOVE!

Kitty said...

what a lovely story! what a sweet little boy!!

hooray!!!

Anonymous said...

customizedgirl.com is a site we've used to make personalized shirts before.