I know my posts have been a bit "Suzie-heavy" lately but I just can't help it cause she is just too funny these days. But if you stick with me I will reward you with a Finn story too- cause i know that is just the kind of reward you want!
I have posted before about the weird snacks my children tend to snack on because I don't keep a whole lot of snack food in my house. This is an example. Well yesterday I opened up the trash can and found this:
I bought a 12 oz. container of raspberries at Costco on Friday. I didn't buy them for any particular reason- just to have on hand. So I was surprised to find the completely empty container in the trash the next day when I had never even opened it yet. I pulled it out and asked Eric who ate all the raspberries- assuming it was him because only he would have a big enough appetite to eat 12 oz. of raspberries in one sitting. So imagine my shock when he said, "Suzie." I said, "Well she probably ate some but this was a brand new container so who ate the rest?" He replied, "No really Suzie ate the whole thing. She brought down the empty container and she said just couldn't help herself because she just likes raspberries so much." Well I guess so!
Pre-raspberry binging Suzie had been sipping from one of these little espresso cups that my kids love to drink hot chocolate from. 
As she was drinking she casually remarks, "You know what grieves me?" I should have replied- "No, do tell milady what does grieve you?" But instead I just stared at her dumbfounded for using the word "grieve." She answered her own question by saying "My daughter. She died." Then she proceeded to take a sip of her hot chocolate. I then asked her, "Suzie, where did you get that from? Did you hear it on a TV show?" She gave me a sideways glance as she lifted her cup back up to her mouth and said, "A lady never talks while drinking." Well that seals the deal- Suzie really did live another life in England. (See previous post.) Or maybe we watch too many British comedies on PBS.
Anyone who has been around Suzie for the past four years knows she has a beloved blanket that she carries around with her. She actually has had about 4 of them but she has loved them into oblivion. When she turned 5 back in January Eric told her she had to throw away her current blanket obsession because "5 year olds don't carry around blankets." I wanted to take a kinder, gentler approach to weaning Suzie off her blanket cause sometimes Eric's mouth writes checks his butt can't cash when it comes to parental decisions.-meaning it is sounds all fine and good to have Suzie throw away her blanket but then he isn't having to deal with a whiny Suzie all day who isn't getting her blankie fix. So this was our compromise. 
My mom took Suzie's blanket and made it into a teddy bear for Suzie to have. Then it she took a part of the blanket and made it into a small hankie/blankie for the bear. Suzie carries this hankie around like her old blankie. It is her nicotine patch, so to speak. Well a few of the seams had come undone on the bear. I noticed this and was planning on fixing them, but hadn't gotten around to it. One day I found that they had been hastily and haphazardly fixed with some non-matching red thread. This really puzzled me because I had no idea who would go to the trouble to patch the seams. As I was studying it, Finn-who has been taking sewing in his CTE class at junior high- walked in the room, saw me looking at the seam and said,"Oh yea- i saw that the bear needed to be fixed so I got out a needle and thread and fixed it. Pretty good, huh!?!" And even though his stitches wouldn't have lasted for more than a couple days of Suzie-loving, it was pretty good for him to take the initiative to fix it. I've heard it said that the definition of an adult is someone who walks into a room and can see and do what needs to be done. I would say Finn is well on his way to becoming an adult!
