Foreign Languages

Nathan is an early riser. I don't know where he gets that. I heard him opening my door this morning and I got up to put him back in bed. "Nathan, it's too early to get up. Stay in bed." I hear him fussing and whining for awhile but he quiets down in a bit and I fall back to sleep.

John wakes up and I hear a commotion. "NATHAN!" Rumblings... up and down the stairs... "Great," I think, "What did Nathan do?" I envision the neatly folded laundry from last night strewn about the house, or the refrigerator open and with food mushed and eggs broken on the floor, or maybe he flooded the house in his love of playing with water. John comes into our room and says in his disastrous voice that I must come see what happened. There is great foreboding. I walk downstairs and look into the bathroom where John is. The mess. "Oh. Well that will clean up." Nathan had gotten into the bathroom closet which is usually locked for just such a reason. He explored the intricacies of my make-up bag. Make-up was dumped into a pile. Foundation had been shaken out in ribbons of beige. Tampons had been released from their imprisonment. And Nathan smelled like my old perfume. It was a relief really after what I had imagined.... nothing at all like the story I hear of what John did as a child....

At little later, Josiah figured it out for us as I'm getting the boys dressed for church and getting breakfast out. He says, "Maybe Nathan speaks another language." "What?", I enquire. "Maybe in Nathan's language, STAY IN BED means HELLO." Maybe you're right, Josiah.