Career Paths

Over the years as I've watched my kids grow in and out of different stages, I've often thought about the different abilities and talents they display and how that could translate into a career later in life.

When Andrea was just tiny, she loved the movie Snow White. During the scene where Snow White runs through the forest Andrea would jump up and run around the house, imitating the movie. Then she'd fall into a heap on the floor, bury her head and fake sob all dramatic-like. Later she translated that into her every-day life -- when she got in trouble, for instance. Thus, the first career I was sure she'd have was that of an actress. Lacie, on the other hand, was becoming quite the swiper. (Andrea was often overheard calling out the phrase from Dora, the Explorer, "Swiper, no swiping!") And so it was that we determined Lacie's calling in life -- a pick-pocket.

When Hyrum came along he was the happiest, smiliest baby EVER. It was unreal. At 2 weeks old the kid was laughing out loud in his sleep! I have witnesses! Anyway, we figured he'd grow up to make a great professional Santa Claus. Meanwhile, Andrea was displaying signs of becoming a Rocket Scientist, and Lacie was shaping up to be quite the little con artist.

It took Hyrum until he was 13.5 months before he started crawling, and around 20-21 months before walking. So we knew he'd never be an Olympic athlete, but with his size he was shaping up to be quite the candidate for a football linebacker. Andrea was becoming a serious insect expert and novelist, and Lacie was refining her skills as a thief.

Nowadays, Andrea is quite the fashion designer -- sewing together paper towels, cutting up Barbie clothes for scrap materials and fashioning plastic garbage bags into "creature power suits." Hyrum loves placing his toy pals in precarious situations so that he may either save them or watch them fall to their deaths. I figure he'll make a good director some day. And Lacie? Sweet Lacie. I have no doubt some day we'll all hear her name on the nightly news -- as the most wanted white-collar crimes fugitive in the books.