Ah, My Wonderful Kids

Well, Halloween weekend is over. I missed seeing Madeleina, Sierra and Alexis dressed up because Chepa's fellow came in for the weekend and took them out trick or treating. But I did have Madeleina carve a pumpkin for me--and it was a beaut, with bats for eyebrows. Just great.
And then yesterday, Italo and Sarah came over--she's now due in exactly 4 months with my granddaughter and announced they'd be moving back here once Italo's soccer season is over at school in a few weeks. But Sarah suggested I change the rugs and paint the house to make it brighter. A great idea if only I had the couple of grand to do it. Not that she volunteered to help paint the back porch fence or anything, which I was doing when she suggested a full house makeover. I'm sure I'll get to a few rooms at least before the baby gets here.
When I took a break, Italo sat next to me and put his hand on my neck. "Dad, if you ever grow up, don't have babies until you're older and have a good job or career, okay? Promise me that."
"Your baby is going to be fine. She's already got more love coming her way than you can imagine."
"Just don't do what I'm doing, okay?"
"Okay. No more babies till I grow up."
"That's what I'm talking about, dad."
And then Marco came over, with Madeleina, from Chepa's and sat me down and reiterated that he'd be leaving for the Air Force soon. He's just one signature away from boot camp. I asked him if he was sure and he said he was. "Time for me to be a man, dad, and start working toward what I always wanted: To work on jet engines."
I reminded him that up until a year ago he'd actually said he wanted to be a mechanic in a little shop somewhere. "Same thing, dad. But why not work on the best? And why not work in the biggest shop in the world?"
Good point.
Then he asked for food and I fed him an over-sized Gorman burger. Madeleina got some of the corned beef and cabbage with boiled potatoes she'd missed out on on Halloween and was in heaven.
And me? I just conked at about 6 PM with Madeleina's voice in my head: "Are you turning old? Or do old people go to bed even earlier?"
"There is no earlier than 6 PM cutie."
She woke me around 10 PM to ask me to move to the floor while she took the couch I sleep on in my office living room. "Of course, baby."
"Don't worry, dad, I bought you a couple of pillows."
"Can't sleep?"
"Worse than that. Just can't sleep in the big living room but I'll explain tomorrow."
Like me she's taken to sleeping on couches rather than in beds. I started because we were short one bedroom around here. She does it just cause she's copying me.
In the morning, and it's not yet 7 AM, she got up to shower and announced: "Thanks for letting me sleep on your couch, dad. You know why I came in here? Because there were about six really weird sounds coming into my ear in the big living room. So I turned over and they stopped. But then when I turned back they were there again. Might just have been some ghosts having a party, but I still couldn't take the racket. I don't know why people call them dead. They have more energy than all of us put together."
Ah, I love my kids, yes indeed.