Points On a Timeline

Have you ever given much thought to your own life’s time line? The different points can be marked by a song that was popular at the time or maybe marked by a person you were with during a certain experience or moment. Anyone’s time line can and will have times of true joy and happiness as well as times of sadness and loneliness. And the same thing that makes all of us the same is the same thing that makes us totally different. We all have a time line and we all have marks on that time line, but they are so uniquely different.

I think most marks on a person’s lifeline are periods of time and not always some specific date. Well, lately, I would call this period in my life ”Ketchup Fingers.” All the kids are really into dipping sauces now. Whether it be ketchup or mustard or barbecue sauce, they love to dip their fries and nuggets and corn dogs; ketchup being the dipping substance used most often. And it does not matter whether or not we give them a fork; they are going to use their fingers. Now, more often than not, they also have ketchup noses and ketchup eyebrows and ketchup clown smiles.

After lunch or dinner, if they have had ketchup or some other potentially messy condiment, I have them all go over to the kitchen sink. It is so funny looking at them with their tomato-based make-up. Hudson seems to get more ketchup on his face than anyone else. That is understandable, considering he really only uses his right hand. When he has ketchup smeared everywhere, he is absolutely hilarious. Picture Dennis the Menace with a real cute smile that tends to look away a lot as if he had gotten into something he wasn’t suppose to. He also seems to really know how to spread pizza sauce around evenly over his face.

Candice is a close second. You know how when biting into a sandwich, kids bite directly into the middle, as far as they can? They end up with peanut butter and jelly on both sides of their mouth. Well, in similar fashion, I think Candi dips her hands into the ketchup and then eats the French fry. This way she is sure to get some ketchup on the fry and in her mouth. I mean, the stuff covers her hands and face. The good thing is she does seem to be satisfied once dinner is over. Neither Candice nor Hudson play with their food. They don’t sling it on the walls or throw it in the floor; on purpose, anyways. They are into the food and are all about the whole eating experience.

Madison would easily come in third as the most-involved eater. She is the one that tends to end up with all kinds of stuff in her hair. Or better yet, her hair is stuck to her face due to ketchup or jelly or dried milk. It is funny to watch Madi because she will stick out her tongue and use it to reach whatever it is that is dried in the corners of her mouth or on her cheeks.

Samantha takes after her older brother, Logan. The two of them, well world, just prepare yourself for these two. They are both very smart and engaging and schemey. (I think I just made up a word.) Neither one of them likes to be dirty. And they eat, trying not to get messy. Their areas at the table are always the cleanest and they require the least amount of washing down, and sometimes scrapping, before bed.

I know these are somewhat the simpler times in life. The kids aren’t dealing with drugs, sex, alcohol, guns, bullies, and don’t understand the bad stories on the news. This is now the time of crayons, little packets of Goldfish, and riding on the front of the buggy. And tonight, they went to bed with food in their bellies, including ketchup, and kisses on their foreheads. I think I am also going look back at this ketchup mark on the time line and see in parenthesis (fun monster time.) They all five seem to laugh and “act” scared when I come up the stairs slowly while playfully growling. Even Hudson was playing along. I almost couldn’t growl because I started kind of laughing. It was pretty funny. And then of course, the fun stopped when I stepped on one of their apple puzzle pieces. I still got them into bed and had some tickle time, but the growling had turned into whining.

The “Ketchup Fingers” period, or era if you will, is not over. There are plenty of other ’sub-eras’ intertwined with each day. And personally, I don’t think the language of hieroglyphics has anything on the language that my quads have developed. It was interesting listening to them in the car today talking to one another while playing with balloons they got in the store. It was fascinating to not have any clue what was being said and yet, they seemed to be telling each other a lot of jokes because there was a lot of laughing. Maybe they were making fun of dad. Would be easy to do.