A Small Frog

This is an anecdote I got secondhand from Erik. It happened while Nick and I were at Quaker meeting this morning.

Erik and Xander were sitting on the couch. Erik farted. Twenty seconds later, Xander asked, "What was that? Do you hear that?" Erik said he didn't hear anything. "Sounds like a bird," said Xander. "Sounds like a frog." Erik (I imagine) laughed at this point and said, "That's probably because I farted. It sounds like a frog." Xander said, "Do you have a frog in your butt, Daddy?" Erik said (laughing harder, I imagine), "Yes. I have a frog in my butt." Xander said, "I have a small frog in my butt."

This is possibly funnier if you live with Xander and know that he is really into comparisons of things being small or big or tiny. Daddy is big, so he has a big frog. Xander is small compared to Daddy, so his is a small frog.

Did I just overexplain it? Sorry.

Nick and I had a good time at meeting. An hour of silence is really healing when you're the mother of two small children. I rocked Nick on my lap the whole time because he threatened at first to get upset, but instead he fell asleep. His eyes blinked open every time someone coughed, but for the most part he had a nice nap. Afterward, when we have a half hour of just sharing/chatting, he stood up on my lap and talked too. He was a big hit, of course. He's been to meeting twice and both times people commented on his "perfect" behavior. Yeah, I think he would be perfect all day long every day if he was rocked on someone's lap for the duration.

It was nice when one of the older people at the meeting, basically the anchor of the group, said, "The sound of the rain outside went well with the silence, and though I didn't hear any birds out there, the sound of birds chirping fits with the silence, and if a baby decides to chirp, that fits well with it too." As I type this, I realize the warmth of the statement was all in his delivery and his character. Not in the bare words.

And here I am typing up all this stuff about our family in bare words. But maybe those of you reading it will be able to hear me talking in your heads as you read.