A Safe Place

I've frequently used the phrase, "in a safe place" in reply to the boys' questioning the whereabouts of various items I'd rather them not have at a particular moment, or season, or...ever! For example, if Nathan asked me where I put the remote to his truck after he repeatedly slammed it into the walls, chairs, and the rest of the family, I simply replied, "in a safe place". "Safe place" translates "safe from you". For another example, Evan asked recently, "Daddy, where is dat scwewdwivuh?" My reply, of course, "In a safe place."


Kid's these days are so quick to pick up on the things we say, aren't they? For yet another example, I had left my cell phone on the kitchen counter recently and when I returned for it, it was gone - gone, I tell ya! Nathan had been on the computer the whole time and Laura was in the back of the house, which meant one of two things - either I really couldn't remember where I left my phone, OR... EVAN had moved it somewhere. (Just so you know, Evan has been into hiding things lately - including himself) So, I hunted down the little guy and asked him, "Evan, do you know where my phone is?" He smiled and replied, "Mm-Hmm!" "Ok, buddy, Daddy needs you to show me where it is." His excited, hands-in-the-air reply: "Iss inna kitchen!" As I followed him back into the kitchen I inquired, "OK, Evan, but where in the kitchen?" He gave me a big, bright-eyed smile and said, "In a safe place!" I found it later between two sofa pillows and, no, we don't keep our sofa "inna kitchen"!