Monday With Mandie

Some days she is angelic.

And then there was the Monday when the Daddy went to the city and Jo the helper was gone to the airport, and Mandie's day started out with chocolates in Mama's bedroom, before breakfast.
Then she made scrambled eggs.
She helped with laundry and got soaked to the eyeballs, but it was fun, see?
She spilled water on the floor but she knows to mop it up herself.
Noticing Mama's busyness, she volunteered to do dishes, with LOTS of running water. As in, running across the counter and down her arms and over her dress.
She found Mama's purse and the little red pills were too much to resist. We hope she didn't really ingest any.
Thank God for quiet times that turn into naps!
This is what happened to lunch.
In the middle of all this, Derek decided to show Mandie the dangers of climbing on the iron railing around our front porch. "See," he explained, "If you crawl up here you could fall, like this!" and then proceeded to punch his line by tumbling headfirst into the flower bed ten feet below. When I heard his shrieks and Mandie's cries of "Somebody help Derek!" I expected he had fallen from the hammock. Instead, I was horrified to discover he was not even on the porch but lying crumpled on his side in the soft earth beneath the elephant ear plants. By the time I reached him, however, he was up and walking around, crying and moaning incoherently. I checked for broken bones and felt satisfied that they were intact. He kept crying about his head which he appeared to have hit on the edge of the porch on his way down, so I watched for signs of a concussion. I phoned Tim and begged him to help me decide whether a trip to the doctor was necessary, which was a little difficult for him, being many miles away in San Pedro. In the end I only gave him ibuprofen, and assured him repeatedly that no, his front tooth was not knocked out, only bumped and bloody, in spite of his frequent announcements to the contrary. When the group from Ohio arrived, David the medic examined him thoroughly and agreed that there was a concussion but no broken bones. A day later he was up and about and only slightly less active than normal, and a week later he was back to his very enthusiastic self but with a deep respect for porch railings.

Thank God!
-Mandie is a happy, creative child.
-Most days I have a faithful helper at my side.
-Derek is fine.
-Not every day is a Monday.
-This is the life for me!