All Hail The Queen

Last night Shorty & I went to dinner with my new Brazilian friend. As we turned of the highway onto the lowly lit, quiet road to our home here in IA, Shorty asked, "Mommy, what does it mean to kill to birds with one stone?" "Where did you hear that?" I asked as I turned the radio off and mentally went over the evening conversations. "Well I just hear people say that all the time but I don't understand what it means?" I thought to myself for a second how I would explain this metaphor to ever curious 11 year old.

"Well, you know how if you had a stone threw it at a bird and killed it..." at which point an over anxious Shorty interrupted and said, "You'd have to go get it and throw it at another bird?" "Uh, no, but if you'll let me finish..." I said, reaffirming my status as queen of this benevolent dictatorship. "If you threw the stone at one bird and killed it but then the stone kept going and hit another bird and killed it, you'd have killed two birds with one stone instead of having to use two." "Ohhhh," he said with an overture of enlightenment.

When we arrived home, he promptly prepared himself for bed with no fight. This morning, he got up & made himself breakfast, took the clean dishes out of the dishwasher & put them in the cabinet & proceeded to work on the math problems I'd given him yesterday...all without me having to say anything. I do believe I have one of the most wonderful children on the planet. I hope this is all a result of the love, guidance, and open communication style I've seasoned my reign with over the years. My goal is to one day have his wife say to me, "Thank you for doing such a great job!"