Father's Day

Today, in the car driving home from stake conference, Em pipes up from her seat in the back: "Happy Father's Day, Daddy!" After Bradley thanked her, she leaned over to Zee and, in a loud four-year-old whisper, says, "Say Happy Father's Day, Zee!" Which he promptly did.

It's funny how much that touched me, that she wanted Daddy to hear it from her brother, too. She can be such a compassionate little girl; sometimes I'm in awe of how she takes care of her brothers. (And, true to her four-year-old roots, she sometimes irritates the living daylights out of them, just to get a reaction.)

Bradley was in the stake choir today during conference, so I enlisted my cousin Allyson Tobler to help me with the kids. Allyson moved into the ward about three years ago, and we figured out that we are descended from the same wife of polygamist pioneer Jacob Tobler. Cool! Anyway, she's a wonderful friend, and she is amazing with children. I actually made it through both hours of conference without too much stress.

The worst part was when Allyson left during the rest hymn for just a minute, and at that moment both Gee and Hebs decided to wig out. So I commanded the older two to STAY PUT and STAY QUIET, and hefted the younger boys out to the foyer. Zee and Em managed to stay put, but the stay quiet command was a little too much for them. The elderly ladies sitting in the pew behind us saved the day, though. When Allyson took Gee back inside the chapel (I went to feed the baby), she found Em sitting quietly with the ladies and Zee sitting in our pew, alone, contentedly drawing. And there Em stayed for the rest of the meeting, totally charming the ladies.

The only other hitch came before the closing prayer, which I gave. I knew Gee wasn't going to let me leave him to go give the prayer, but I sure wasn't going to hold him during it. Either way promised to be loud and embarrassing. So I took him up to the stand with me during the final chorus of the closing song, and then practically tossed him to his Daddy before calmly proceeding to the pulpit. And it worked! He was quiet.

I'm really grateful that the ladies in the row behind us weren't judgmental, and in fact helped us out wonderfully. And I didn't get their names! (But I did thank them profusely.)

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Overheard at the Ross home this week:

In a discussion about why some people are born blind, Zee said: But what if somebody is perfect, like me?

I was helping Gee say his prayers, and I prompted him to say, "Please help me not to scream whenever someone touchs my walker." Instead, he mumbled for a minute and then said clearly, "Walker." (Mumble) "Jayson." (Mumble) "Trouble." (Jayson is Gee's younger cousin. They have serious cousin rivalry issues.)

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Hebs busted out his first teeth on Friday, the two bottom front ones. I didn't even know he was teething. Either this makes me a bad mother for not noticing, or a lucky mother that teething doesn't bother him. Guess which one I'll go with?

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Happy Father's Day to all my brothers and brothers-in-law, my wonderful, fabulous father-in-law George (on a mission with Grandma in Tobago, West Indies), and most of all to my Bradley. Thanks for being such an amazing daddy to my babies.

And I love and miss you, Daddy-of-mine. Every day.