Out of the Mouths of Babes

 

Children are such a good source of joy. We all love to watch videos online of the first time a child with new glasses saw his mother. Or the baby who mimics her father in a moment of exchanged expressions. When they get older, though, when they can talk, we go to the long used expression Out of the mouths of babes… That phrase is taken from KJV Bible Psalms 8:3 and Matthew 21:16. 

 

So many times children give us just what we need: Their perspective, and we wonder where that came from. Our littlest brother about six went Christmas shopping in  downtown Moline with my sister and I when we were teenagers. He dutifully trucked through crowded store to store with us, Our last stop was The New York Store, crowded with shoppers elbow to elbow until finally he stopped in the middle of an aisle and yelled, “I want to go home.” When asked why he was crying, he said, “These moms keep hitting me in the head with their purses.” We stopped shopping and bought him a good lunch.

 

When I presented our daughter as a newborn to my niece and nephews she was about a week old. She was crying and my youngest nephew sat next to me on the couch. He shook a little rattle in her face. I told him that wouldn’t help because I wasn’t sure she could see it. She was only a week old. He frowned. I explained that her eyes would get stronger and then she would be able to see all right. He said I should give her a cookie. I told him she couldn’t eat it because she didn’t have any teeth. But she would grow some. He got up off the couch and stood in front of me with one hand on his hip. He looked me straight in the eye and asked, “Gee, Aunt Joanne. What kind of a baby did you get?” When I need a good refresh, a few moments of memories like these make a day more fun.