I have a present for you

When I came home last Friday afternoon it was pretty quiet. Mallory was out playing, Shawn was on the computer and Truett was wondering aimlessly around the house. Unfortunatly, that peace only lasted a few moments before Hurricane Mallory made her way inside. There were lots of hugs and kisses and "what are you doing-s" to be asked. She finally ran on her way and I decided to pick up the house a little.

As I was reading the day's mail, I heard Mallory casually say, "Mommy, I have a present for you." This does not cause me great excitement but it does warm my heart that she wants to present me with little trophies. I've received flower petals, rocks, leaves, little pieces of construction paper. You get the idea. So when she told me she had a gift I was thinking along the lines of previous trinkets. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her swinging something around and looked over to see:


OMG. A tampon? It was one of those moments as a parent where I could not contain the laughter. It spilled out, and out, and out, and out. Mallory thought it was hilarious and started laughing with me. What a joyful moment a crazy little cotton string started! That night at dinner I was recounting the story to Shawn. He then told me she had been playing with it all afternoon. Oh to be a kid again.

Of course, now I am thinking I should just give her a box of tampons for her birthday and she'd be overjoyed. No more expensive Barbies whose hair gets tangled up, puzzles whose pieces get lost or games that we can never play because we can't find the pieces.