This week, Kyle begged me to buy him an Xbox 360. (a video game device)
He begged and begged,
and said he would die if we didn't get him one.
I didn't know what to say to him.
Then he said, "Wait right here, I want to read something to you."
Little Abigail and the Beautiful Pony
By Shel Silverstein
There was a girl named Abigail
Who was taking a drive
Through the country
With her parents
When she spied a beautiful sad-eyed
Grey and white pony.
And next to it was a sign
That said,
FOR SALE—CHEAP.
“Oh,” said Abigail,
“May I have that pony?
May I please?”
And her parents said,
“No you may not.”
And Abigail said,
“But I MUST have that pony.”
And her parents said,
“Well, you can have a nice butter pecan
Ice cream cone when we get home.”
And Abigail said,
“I don’t want a butter pecan
Ice cream cone,
I WANT THAT PONY—
I MUST HAVE THAT PONY.”
And her parents said,
“Be quiet and stop nagging—
You’re not getting that pony.”
And Abigail began to cry and said,
“If I don’t get that pony I’ll die.”
And her parents said, “You won’t die.
No child ever died yet from not getting a pony.”
And Abigail felt so bad
That when she got home she went to bed,
And she couldn’t eat,
And she couldn’t sleep,
And her heart was broken,
And she DID die—
All because of a pony
That her parents wouldn’t buy.
(This is a good story
To read to your folks
When they won’t buy
You something you want.)
I have laughed and laughed since.
I'm still laughing.
My favorite parts are:
"Well, you can have a nice
butter pecan ice cream cone
when we get home."
"Be quiet and stop nagging."
I love this poem more as a parent
than when I was a kid.
On more than one occasion,
I have been in a similar situation with
one or all of my children about something.
Here are some other things that are making me chuckle:
Brandon on the library computer copying other kids.
Every day Sadie comes down in the morning and declares,
"I'm ready for my ice cream now."
I explain to her that you need to eat
breakfast, lunch, fruit or veggies, nuggets or a sandwich first.
Which she promptly does, then says
"I'm ready for my ice cream now."
(She repeats this phrase to me several times throughout the day
even if she has already had a bowl of ice cream.)
Then the very next day, the same thing happens all over again.
As if she has totally forgotten, that I've told
her we don't eat ice cream all day whenever we want.
(Obviously, she has noticed that I do this.
I need to be better at eating my ice cream bowls in secret.)
This week, I asked Tate to do his kitchen job.
Wipe off the kitchen table.
I turned around and discovered this.
Hmmm. . . .
Brandon has discovered our backyard.
But most importantly - the DIRT!
He loves the dirt.
What a good boy.
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