How Curious George Saved Noah's life 
Curious? George was. Apparently, so is Noah.
I keep telling myself- he's not bad.... he's curious, creative, innovative, but, what I see at the moment is, he's messy. Maximum mess. Messious Maximus.
Three guesses as to what the ooze is that Noah is dancing in.....Is it:
1. Gorilla Glue? (Thankfully- Not.. I suppose it COULD have been worse...--although I wouldn't have had to chase his stickiness through the kitchen, if it HAD been...)
2. A Bodily Fluid or product, animal or human? (Nope-not this time, that would have SMELLED much worse)
3. An entire bottle of syrup poured onto my kitchen floor, creating Noah's own Olympic Speed Skating rink? BINGO---- You win!
It began, with two minutes of peace and quiet. I should have known.
I was in the living room, right next to and adjoining the kitchen, knitting away. " Teletubbies" blared in the background, I had a Mom's Intuitive moment that suddenly reminded me--- "Quiet is not good" I also knew- Noah's lack of response to my calling him, was not equally, not good.
3 steps into the kitchen, my feet felt funny.
5 steps in, and I saw what you did, above.
In 6 steps I decided I had to kill him....
Then, I saw his shirt. GEORGE. I changed my mind. Curious George Had saved Noahs life
Why? Because, yesterday, during our "GOOF DAY", we went to see "Curious George"
http://www.curiousgeorgemovie.com/
George had "Noah" written all over him. George is like any normal preschooler. So is Noah. They're naturally curious, and uninhibited. If the sticky syrup feels good- they slide in it. Our whole family saw Noah in the movie- we laughed on the way home... thinking of the little moments- where Noah has gotten himself into scrapes. Like last Valentines day, when he broke 16 eggs into my carpet- 'cause he was making "eggies" for our special dinner... 'cause he's my "helper". (I had left him with his brothers for 20 minutes to pick up a few treats for our dinner... but, the truth is, he could have done it when I was home- just as easily!)
Did I really want to kill him? Well, not KILL him.... but squash him like a bug emotionally?
ABSOLUTELY.
20 oz. of syrup, spead across my floor, does NOT make me happy. It makes me furious. But- I saw his shirt. GEORGE. In an instant God ( I know it was God, because the woman in my head- was heading for the executioners hood!) reminded me, George isn't BAD, he's CURIOUS. So is Noah.
Truth is--- I could have ranted and raved. (I have before) But, the floor would have still been a mess, the syrup would have been covering him... and I'd have felt awful. Instead, in a moment of lucidity, that also could only have been God, I calmly said... "Noah? What did you do? " to which he replied " I skating."
I told him syrup is for waffles, not skating, and that there are no games today, then had to figure out how to clean up the mess- before the dog went into a maple sugar induced coma....AND I had to keep them both from spreading invisible sticky footprints all thru the house. I decided on stripping the preschooler- making him stand on a towel, while I mopped up what I could.... before putting him in the tub. (Noah, alone in a tub while I'm MOPPING would be a bad thing...actually, preschoolers, alone in a tub is ALWAYS a bad thing!)
Noah must have sensed how close he came to death today- as he managed to stand (wiggle and sit ) on that towel, without leaving it for 10 minutes. Something we BOTH would have thought impossible- prior to this!
We all survived, thanks to Curious George, with help, from God.
FYI: When Faced with a "Curious" problem like this of your own.... prior to the actual mopping of said syrup--- I recommend you use a spatula to scrape as much up as possible- this will eliminate the creation of "mop doom"...(you don't want to know) and will enhance your cleaning experience.
Dear Lord, I love you- and this child (all three!) that you gave me, please help me to always see them as your wonderful creation. Please, give me wisdom, to discipline them, and patience to guide them. And Lord- thanks for not letting me kill them. amen.
