To quote my hairdresser: "Aren't kids just the bomb?!" This was during
a discussion we had way back when my daughter was two years old, and
the heart-squeezingly cute things they say and do; just to make us
adults melt into little twist-'em-round-your-finger idiots. My daughter
is now four, but she still is the cutest damned thing--not that I'm
partial or anything. I'm trying to savor these times and do what I can
to make it last, both for us and her.
Like the other day, nearing
the end of a long, tiring 8 hour road trip. Heading south on Highway
395 out in the desert we were going over a long series of elongated dips
in the road. While I'm sure these have some serious, somewhat higher
purpose of channeling flash floods or keeping truckers awake, to us it
became "The Whee Whee Road" and my kid was thrilled no end. She giggled
breathlessly, widened her eyes and raised her hands and feet into the
air while Grandpa obligingly sped up to try and get the 4 x 4 airborne.
When it was over she turned to me and ACTUALLY SAID, "Mommy, that made
my tummy silly!" I thought I'd die of cuteness. It also made me think
of when I was a kid and my father would do the same thing for us. There
was a road--I don't know where exactly--located somewhere near an
airport here in Southern California that had a similar series of dips.
We also dubbed it "The Whee Whee Road" and for us held thrills akin to a
roller coaster.
Then last night in the bathtub, my daughter was
playing with her two newest toys, a pair of big rubber lizards from
Target. A bargain at 99 cents for both, they have been The Toy Of The
Week around here, The Chosen Ones For Now. Suddenly she dipped both
lizards in the tub and raised them up coated with bubbles. The she
grinned at me and proclaimed, "Sheep!"
God, kids are just the bomb.
From my brother:
ReplyDelete'There was a road--I don't know where exactly--located somewhere near an airport here in Southern California that had a similar series of dips.'
That's funny, I seem to recall that the road you're talking about is that section of highway between the 10 Freeway out past Cabazon (giant dinosaurs!) and Twenty-Nine Palms, just north of Joshua Tree National Monument... That one straight stretch dipped up and down in a regular rhythm, following the surface of the desert as it undulated up and down like a regular sine wave. Dad used to try to hit the exact speed needed to have that gigantic Cadillac (speaking of dinosaurs) hit the top of the springs just at the top of each hill, then we'd experience a moment of zero G before the big swoop down into the next valley. Absolutely fabulous! I always try to replicate that experience for my kid on the drive to Coleville, but U.S. 395 lacks that all-important regularity, plus, there are always people passing the big rigs, and it's just terrifying to fly over those hills blind.