I had been out of town for a week. On my way back in town from the airport I met my family at a restaurant for dinner. It was Friday night and 5-year-old Breezy was coming home with us for the weekend.

We’d had a cookout the previous weekend and I remembered there were still four “Nimanim” ice cream cones (waffle cones with vanilla ice cream, covered with chocolate and M & M’s) in the freezer left from that event. Good! That would make Breezy happy. When it came time for her evening snack, we went in to look for them. They were gone! She was a little disappointed and a bit mad. I said, “Papa ate them all while I was gone!”  “No wonder he’s so fat!” she replied.  Oh my gosh. I thought that was hilarious. When I told Papa later he thought it was too. However, Breezy denied saying it!

When I was about Breezy’s age a woman was visiting my stay-at-home mom; they were drinking coffee and I was sitting on a bar stool across from them. I have no idea what prompted me to say, “you know my daddy doesn’t like you.” “Oh sweetie, I know.” I don’t know if she knew or not, but even at five I could tell I had hurt her feelings. A few minutes later I said, “I like your ring,” talking about her wedding ring, but I could tell the damage had been done.   It’s been over fifty years since I said that and I can still remember how it made me feel that I had hurt her feelings.

Little children are so precious. But they say what they feel and what they hear. They don’t have very good filters. That comes from their innocence.  That same weekend Breezy was staying with she said, in her Southern accent, “Jay Jay, your boobies are so big!” “Uh huh,” I try to just keep the conversation moving. Then she asked, looking at me seriously with her big brown eyes, “were your boobies big when you were six?” I wanted to roll on the floor laughing. But instead I said, just as seriously, “No.”  Then she followed up, imploringly, “were they at 7? 8?” “No,” I replied. “Oh, I wish I had big boobies,” she sighed.  This is a kid who still weighs 33 pounds.  She does bring me much joyful laughter!

Well, one never knows what is going to come out of the mouth of babes. You have to be oh so careful about what you let their little ears hear, and you have to be pretty tough skinned about what they say to and about you.  I, for one, am just very entertained. I hope Breezy stays this funny for a very long time!  A word to the wise….remember that those baby ears are always listening!

dmzh