miracle worms

A few months ago, our resident wise men, Auntie Net and Uncle Brad, came to visit, bearing gifts as always. This time the gifts included gummy frogs and worms, which have been so carefully rationed that the kids forget they exist in between times--I thought. More on that later.

The worms have come out this week for Seth's potty training rewards, and he has been obediently holding each tiny morsel of earthworm segment in his hand until he earned the reward. However, today he was not quite as patient. "Wook, Mommy!" he crowed, licking his worm morsel.

"Don't eat it yet, Sethie," I warned. "Wait until you go pee-pee."

Soon I was summoned by an alarmed wail. "Mommy, 'e wun away!"

"Who ran away?" I surmised the truth quickly. "Did you eat your worm?"

"No, I not eat it," he assured me, pointing down his throat, "but 'e wun away."

"Seth, you weren't supposed to eat it yet," I scolded.

"I not eat it! 'e wun away!"

The false accusation was apparently too much for his tender heart. Hours later after his nap, when I came to get him out of his bed, he greeted me with a fresh declaration of his innocence. "I not eat it!" he asserted again. "He wun away down my froat."

~~~~~

Anaya asked me a puzzling question yesterday. "Mommy, did our worms have a miracle?"

"What worms? What miracle?" (You gotta start somewhere.)

"Well, you know the worms you've been giving Sethie for going pee-pee."

"Yes, I know those worms."

"Well, they used to be froggies!"