January 29

Mel: About my kids


We were driving out to pizza last night and we were talking to the kids and had asked Cole if he had a story for us. He was pretty sure he forgot to do something. As he talked about his day..he told us this story and was totally unaware of the kindness he had shown...

There was a girl on the bus and she told me that she knew someone who liked me. She told me to come sit by her so I went over and sat with her. I asked her, who liked me? She said she would tell me later. I thought that she was probably the one who liked me and was afraid to tell me. She handed me a note that said...I'm the one who likes you I think..maybe. There were boys sitting next to us and had seen that I had a note in my hand. They grabbed it and read it and were yelling, Cole has a girlfriend. I looked at her and she had her head down and looked embarrassed. The guys asked who the girl was and if it was the girl next to me. I told them, it wasn't her, the note was from another girl at school and I just pulled it out to read it. They were cool with the answer and just kept on with the Cole has a girlfriend song...

Nate and I looked at each other and were like.. Oh wow...Cole. We told him how blown away we were by his maturity and kindness for the girl. He completely guarded her and was so kind. We told him..mission accomplished today, son....

While we were waiting to meet friends for pizza later that night we had about an hour to blow. We thought CJ had soccer practice so we were early. Practice was cancelled so we took the kids to Burger King to hang out in the play gym for a bit. It was pretty packed in there and full with lots of kids and parents. The kids went to play and about 10 minutes in, Cole and CJ and Kendall come angry and sitting in front of us. They were really upset about something. CJ looked like she might kill someone and she kept looking back at the playground. Cole was shaking his head and Kendall just was sitting there(smiling as usual)looking at her bro and sis. Nate asked them, what was up? There were two kids there playing and they had to be about 4(girl) and 2(boy). They looked like brother and sister and they were Chinese. Their parents were white and much older and we could hear the parents talking to a friend about visiting China and their experiences there. Well, apparently there were some other kids in the playground who were being so mean to the kids. A girl about CJ's age and some other kids. Calling them Chinese kids and telling them to get away from them and saying GROSS every time they came around. This did not sit well with my older two at all. They came to the table furious and plotting about how to protect the two little kids from the bullies. Talking about how they might have to get physical if the bullies hurt those little kids AT ALL. CJ then told us that the little boy from China had a wooden leg and could barely get up the play gym. We looked at the kids...told them thanks for wanting to handle the situation, be smart and don't go looking for a fight with those bullies but handle what you have to handle and great job keeping an eye on the little kids. The older two stood up and were whispering to one another. I said, Hey what are you two up too? They turned around and smiled and CJ says... OH you know US! Nate and I laughed so hard.. we do know them. We know that they will stand up for other kids.....Fight off bullies and handle it. They aren't afraid to help someone or step in when it's the only optin. My kids stayed with the two little kids for the next half hour until we left. Going up and down the slides, playing hide and seek, helping the little boy up the gym and Nate and I were super proud of them and all I can say is my heart was swollen.