Honesty is such a lonely word.

If you search for tenderness

it isn't hard to find.
You can have the love you need to live.
But if you look for truthfulness
You might just as well be blind.
It always seems to be so hard to give.

Billy Joel had obviously never talked to a child when he wrote those lyrics. Honesty is the hallmark of childhood. Whether due to sweet innocence or lack of knowledge about societal rules, children deliver the truth without batting an eye. SS is no different than other children her age when it comes to dishing out the truth. But SS goes a step further, her facial expressions are as cutting as her remarks.

A lot of the time her observations are harmless and plain funny. Other times her words are sadly the voice of reason to clueless adults. Recently we shared SS's torpedo of truth about how much she loves sharing her room with her brother, just him, not us. Then there was the whole debacle (after my emergency surgery) with the calls from the crazy and it was painful to watch SS place her hands over her ears and scream "turn it off, turn it off." She was at her emotional lowest, looking for comfort from a so called adult, but instead was first ignored, then abandoned to appease the crazy.

Last year I was looking for a hat for our trip to Maui. I wanted something other than my Nike cap, but knew it was going to be a long search. I have a huge, oddly shaped head; finding a cap is nearly impossible, a hat plain impossible. But I was determined to find something and took my shadow shopping, as usual. When I finally found a hat that I liked and actually fit, I turned around to look at SS. Her face said it all before she opened her mouth. She did not say much, but that disdainful "Nah" with her expression made me put the hat back at ligthning speed.

A few days later P joined us in the impossible hat search and once again I found something suitable. P was rather skeptical about my report of SS's facial expression and acerbic delivery. I tried on the coveted hat, P liked it, but my attention was on the littlest critic. SS did it again, the face, the "Nah." P was about to place the hat in the shopping cart and I stopped him. He was incredulous, he is honest when giving feedback, and there I was placing my fate in the hands of a three year old! Dude could not believe it. P is indeed honest with his feedback, but the hat stayed behind. I am telling you SS is one effective critic.

Last week SS needed to use the bathroom at the supermarket. SS was doing her Rain Man imitation and constantly repeating how much she needed to use the restroom. As we walked in the only available stall SS stopped in her tracks and exclaimed "YUCK MAMA, this is a mess." I heard laughter from the other stalls, something I am becoming accustomed to now days. An employee happened to be there and came and cleaned the "mess." It actually consisted of unused toilet paper on the floor. SS was pleased with the speedy customer service.

On Wednesday we met P at the Hundred Dollar Store (Co$tco) for our weekly cheap lunch. By now they are used to SS placing sauerkraut on her pepperoni pizza, so thankfully no more weird looks. SS likes holding the receipt (after shopping) and handing it to the door person, because they always draw her (and any other kid) a happy face. This time she encountered a new employee and SS informed her of her duties, "happy face." The young lady drew a happy face, gave SS a huge smile and handed the receipt. That is when P and I saw it, the expression, THE expression before the "Nah." The young lady eagerly awaited SS's feedback, but she got the face and the "Nah" instead. The employee felt awful and said she'll practice for next time. We made our now perfected hasty exit. We are grateful for SS's language limitations because otherwise she would have demanded to speak to the manager, then demanded that the offending employee be remanded to the back room and be given extensive remedial training in happy face drawing. Ah, the innocence of a child.

Addendum to yesterday's post:
Not only do I lack judgment, but apparently I am also a lousy listener. P reminded me what the caterpillar formerly known as foul-mouthed does when F and K are pressed simultaneously. It giggles and says "that tickles." Apparently the folks at Leapfrog have a sense of humor.

Thirty pounds of bespectacled honesty.

Make no mistake, she is not laughing with us, she is blatantly laughing at us.

Oh yeah post #3 of my Spring Fling. Drop by M3’s blog for other links to courageous bloggers who have joined the type of fling that does not destroy marriages. When I decided to do the thirty posts I did not want a link to our blog, just wanted to get over the winter blahs. But having a link to the blog helps keep me accountable, something I really need now. Besides, I am a lilliputian in the blog world, the others participating are pros.