I’m Just Talking to Noodles

I’m just talking to Noodles. 

Chuck and I had the great pleasure of hosting our three year old grandson last weekend as he spent the night with us for two nights. 

As we hung out together I couldn’t help, but be reminded of a time gone by when our daughter was three. I must admit being a parent was always the happiest time of my life, and I do miss those days. 

What I’ve discovered, though, is that parenting is pretty easy with only one child, and I am in constant amazement at what a good job my daughter does with her two boys, which defiantly raises it up a notch. 

 After the weekend the plan was that I would meet her and my youngest grandson at a halfway point to drop off the oldest. 

He was happily watching a show about trucks on his Amazon Fire in the backseat, while I was listening to the president on the radio. 

It was then that I heard a quiet voice coming from the back seat. I turned down the radio to ask my grandson if he was talking to me?

His response was priceless, and warmed my Mimi heart to no end. 

“No, I’m talking to Noodles,” he said. 

Now Noodles is his little stuffed horse that my daughter had given him  when his pacifier somehow got “broken.” Since then he and Noodles have become best buddies. 

In fact, Noodles has become real to him, and for a horse he seems to have his own opinions about most everything. 

As I listened in, it was apparent that my grandson was giving Noodles a play by play of everything he was seeing along the way to meet his Mom. Tall buildings, excavators, and cranes were all a delight to the boy and his tiny horse. 

Now for me, I must say that it was such a special moment, primarily because beyond being so sweet, I knew how fleeting it was. 

A few years from now Noodles will probably be packed away, and my grandson too old to share the delight of the world around him with a tiny, stuffed horse. 

I’m so glad I was paying attention to that small, quiet voice that found its way into my heart. 

I know when you are in the trenches of parenthood it’s easy to get distracted, but treasure those special moments that all too soon will be gone.