Can a girl get some sleep around here?

News Flash: Junk Food Is Yummy!

Today while making lunch I had this conversation with our two-year-old:

2YO: "Is pear good for you?"
Me: "Yes, pear is good for you."
2YO: "Is chocolate good for you?"
Me: "No, chocolate is junk food."
2YO: "Junk food is yummy."

Favorite Attraction at the San Diego Zoo

I might have expected his answer from the adults in the group, but I was very surprised when our 5 1/2-year-old recalled the foot massager as his favorite thing at the World Famous San Diego Zoo.

Have Pillow Will Sleep - Part II

 

This kid can apparently sleep anywhere!!!!

For further evidence, see here.

Tool Time Flashback

Do you remember the 90s TV show Home Improvement? I had a big flashback to the well-intentioned, yet accident-prone Tim the Toolman Taylor as our 3-year-old recently made his way around the house "fixing things". Look closely at his toolbelt and tell me that OSHA isn't already on it's way to shut down this worksite.

Strange looking camels

After a couple hours walking around the San Diego Zoo, I let the boys know we were getting close to the camels. As we approached, our five-year-old said, "well those are sure strange looking camels..."

I was looking at the camels, and didn't quite understand what he was talking about until I realized he was looking at these in the adjacent enclosure.

Where does your strength come from?

We were at a restaurant having dinner when our oldest complained he was getting tired. I rather facetiously suggested that he should forego playing his Gameboy the following day (during his brothers' naps) and instead take a nap. His response: "My Gameboy gives me strength."

"You're a BOOK!"

The boys were watching Milo and Otis. During a scene with Milo, Otis and a snake our two-year-old announced, "I'm a cat!"

Asked about his 5-year-old brother, he said,"you're a DOG!"
About his almost 4-year-old brother, "you're a NAKE (snake)!"
Then his dad said, "what am I?" He thought for a moment and proudly announced, "you're a BOOK!"
Finally, "what about mom?" Again he thought, and with a grin announced, "you're a VAN!"

Pretty descriptive, considering how often he sees his dad reading, and me driving everyone around!

"Bad Guy Finder"

We just got home from a last-minute family vacation to San Diego. One of the first things we did was tour the USS Midway (conveniently located across from our hotel). While on the flight deck we passed a telescope (clearly placed for tourist purposes to view the surroundings), and our five-year-old asked his dad, "Did the good guys used to use that to find the bad guys?"

"I'm going to the hospital"

Our two-year-old just walked by me this morning and said, "I'm going to the hospital." When I asked why, he said, "I'm going to the hospital for a baby." I asked if he was going for a boy or girl, and he said girl. He then resolutely walked to our bedroom, picked up an imaginary baby and proudly carried it back to his own room saying, "I got a baby girl!"

Oh, if only it were that easy!

"I'm not a DUDE!"

Conversation overheard between our 2-year-old and 3 1/2-year old sons:

2YO (driving chubby cars across the couch) "Hey Dude"
3YO "I'm not a DUDE!"
2YO "Move Dude"
3YO "I'm not a DUDE...I'm your friend!"

My Pillow Popped!!!

Our two-year-old was very concerned when he saw me holding his freshly laundered pillowcase. He whined, "my pillow popped...my pillow popped!" He was so relieved when I replaced it on his pillow and it returned to full size.

It's a BOY...and a GIRL...and a BOY..and....

We've been looking at a lot of insects lately (spiders included). Six weeks ago, my husband caught a large grasshopper in the evening. By morning, much to our surprise it laid a BUNCH of eggs. I thought it would be great for the boys to see the lifecycle, until I figured out that they weren't due to hatch until spring. Either it was a different type of grasshopper than I looked up, or the living conditions caused an early hatch, but imagine my surprise as I was washing some dishes in the kitchen and kept seeing a little green thing jumping. I thought maybe a baby cricket had found its way into the sink, but on closer inspection it was definitely a grasshopper...make that about a HUNDRED grasshoppers (no longer contained in their container!). The top photo is of the eggs right after they were laid, and before I covered them with dirt; middle is the hatch; and last is a group of the little buggers on my washcloth rack (before we escorted them outside).

Now THAT'S thinkin'

We just got pneumatic chairs for the kids' table in my office so they wouldn't need to sit on their knees or use a booster. Everything is great about the chairs except our 2-year-old can't climb onto or off of the chair unassisted when it is at table height. The other day I was in the kitchen and he was asking for help getting off. I told him I couldn't get there right away, so he would have to wait a few minutes.

When I finally got over to the office to help him, I found our 5-year-old had already devised a solution to the problem. He and our 3 1/2-year-old climbed up on the chair with our 2-year-old, and their combined weight was enough to lower the chair so our youngest could get off by himself. And not only does it work, it's fun!

The whole world at their fingertips

3 1/2-year-old to his brother, "Let's go to China to get more chocolate."
5-year-old responds matter-of-factly, "Actually we need to go to Mexico for that."

Where do they get this stuff? We recently bought a globe and it has added a great dimension to our conversations, for instance, how toys made in China get to our homes; about where cacao plants grow (that question arose while reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). It is encouraging to think that the boys accurately incorporate what they've learned into their playtime.

Should I oval it?

I am accustomed to my kids taking things literally, but I've come across an instruction that is REALLY starting to annoy me. In one of our son's books, rather than writing out the instruction "circle it" it gives the instruction with a picture of an oval + "it". The first time my son read it he said, "so I oval it?" Good question. Why not be accurate and print a circle + "it". Well, the problem is that you often can't "circle" some things, you really do have to "oval" them, but we don't say "oval it" we say "circle it".

I can say that in the first three and a half decades of my life, I never noticed the difference, or had a problem "circling" something in the shape of an oval, but now every time I ask my son to "circle" something, I find my self wanting to say "well, you may have to oval it."

Snails in the house...

...or so they tell me.

Rules of Engagement

"You can't shoot my knees because I have bass drums on my knee-caps," said our 3-1/2-year-old to his 5-year-old brother.

Double Trouble

I can hardly tell where one ends and the other begins...

Need go pee

I don't think our almost-two-year-old quite "gets it" yet, but he'd be ahead of the game if potty-training only involved the lifting of one's shirt!

You Wanna Kiss My Bug??

I'm not really sure what was going through our almost-two-year-old's mind here. I looked over at the table and he was planting big kisses on the pictures of these bugs. Maybe it was inspired by our recent bug-observing (we've captured and watched a few ants, a stink bug, a spider and a cricket). Whatever the case - "ewwww!"

No one laughed

I wish I had a photo of this one. My husband likes to make us all laugh by pulling the waistband of his shorts up as high as it will go (yes, I admit that after 12 years I still chuckle). Yesterday was no exception, when apparently he hiked them up when they were all outside playing. Last night when the boys were getting ready for bed, one of our sons hiked his pull-up as high as it would go - and then he asked his dad, "why did you pull your shorts up like that?" and Dad answered, "because it was funny." Our son responded dead-pan, "No one laughed."

Do you wanna see my BIG MOUTH?!?

Dogpile on Daddy

Alligators and Hippos

The boys were watching a video about different kinds of animals. My husband has fun identifying the animals incorrectly and then the boys correct him. After calling a hippo an alligator, he asked our 5-year-old what the difference was between the two. Our son's answer, "well, they both like water...but they have different names."

I guess we need to work on the mammal/reptile distinction.

Cease-fire

A request made by our 3 1/2-year-old to our 5-year-old while riding around in the back of the van:

"Please stop shooting me, my gun is resting."

Toys on the other side of the Earth

Every night before bed, our five-year-old goes into the bathroom to take care of business. We often have to call in and ask if he's done. One night last week he was in there for a particularly long time. My husband asked him why he didn't let us know when he was done. Our son said, "I got distracted, I was thinking." Curious, my husband asked what he was thinking about. The answer: "I was thinking about toys on the other side of the earth."

Go figure.

Ms. Dimples

Ms. Dimples is four weeks old today. I was so pleased to capture this picture of her smiling with her eyes open.

The Princess has arrived!

On May 23rd we welcomed our newest addition to the family. Here she is being adored by her big brothers :)

A Better Translation

It's been a busy few weeks preparing for the arrival of baby #4 - she's making her grand entrance tomorrow morning. One afternoon the boys were a bit more wound up than usual, and I commented about putting on a video to help them un-wind. A little later our five year old asked, "can you put on a video to help 'unwild' us?"

I think he captured the essence of the moment better than I did.

Easter Update

I just realized that after all the complaining I did last Easter about getting a family photo, I should probably post this photo of everyone cooperating (with the camera on a tripod) this year. These whole-group-shots are so few and far between!

Gearing up for the baby sister

A couple weekends ago a girlfriend threw my first baby shower. It's a little different having a shower for your FOURTH baby - but it was actually a lot of fun considering this is our first little girl. When I came home from the shower I was greeted by all my boys who were very interested in all the gifts. Our three-year-old asked which ones were for him :)

At first they were having fun just looking at the clothes. That quickly progressed to actually trying on the clothes. I'm sure someday these photos will be the source of great embarrassment, but for the present it was just a lot of fun.

The harsh realities of turning five

Our oldest son turned five today. The day seemed filled with far too many realities for a five year old. As he dressed himself this morning, he asked me (quite concerned) if he would now be too big for his shirt. I assured him that it would still fit.

A little later in the morning, he asked why Daddy had to work away from home today (he sees his daddy work from home from time to time and I guess he just wanted him home today). I was just trying to affirm what a good Daddy he has, and how thankful we are that he has a good job. I took the opportunity to mention that someday he too would be a good husband and daddy etc, but got a far different response than I had expected. He got really quiet...and quiet turned somber...and somber turned to tears. And he said, "but I don't want to not live here." It took ten minutes of talk and consoling to reassure him that adulthood was still a far ways off, and that he didn't need to "worry" about it.

I mentioned how he would one day find the woman he was going to marry, and would want to have his own home and raise his own family. Then he quietly responded, "but there are so many women...how am I going to know which one to pick?" I assured him that when the time came God would show him the right one.


To end the day, the boys played outside for a good part of the afternoon. And it seemed as if to add injury to insult, he slipped from the top rung of the steps and landed right on his privates. Poor guy, he didn't even know what it was that hurt so bad. All he could say was that he hurt his bottom.

After all that happened today...I'm glad we actually celebrated his birthday yesterday!

Turning Five

We celebrated our oldest son's 5th birthday yesterday. He had requested a Cars birthday cake, so we decorated with all Cars decor (the funny part about all this is that he really didn't care for the video...but all three boys love the character merchandise). Even our 19-month-old can say "Queen" for McQueen and "Docsun" for Doc Hudson.

We gave the birthday boy his choice of what part of the cake to eat, and he picked the street. Does it get anymore boy than that?!?

New Item on the Menu

We were at dinner the other night ordering our meals when our three-year-old asked our waitress for "chicken thumbs." I guess the boy prefers thumbs to fingers. Then again, it's not like chickens have fingers either!

Canned Smiles

Why is it that saying "cheese" or "smile" works so well for some, and NOT for others?

Mr. Clean

Safety Patrol

It's good to see them all wearing helmets, but I would expect nothing less from the Safety Patrol. Our almost-five-year-old has a thing for handing out "safety violations" in the form of an orange cone (not pictured) that he sets wherever said "violation" takes place.

Sense of Smell

Our boys have been going through "Katie-withdrawals" lately. Katie is their favorite babysitter, but for the last few weeks when Katie has come over, it's been to practice guitar with me (preparing for our upcoming women's retreat). Last week, our three-year-old woke up from his nap just after Katie left. He asked, "but where's Katie?" I explained that she had gone home already. He stopped, looked around, and with a smile on his face replied, "it still SMELLS like Katie."

Have Pillow, Will Travel...and Sleep

Some kids have a security blanket, our middle son has chosen a security pillow. It's not the easiest thing to carry around, but I guess it's worth the effort once he reaches his destination.

Three-Year-Old Privacy Rights

This morning while I was in the boys' room putting clothes away, our almost-three-year-old pleaded from inside the closet, "Mommy, can you please close the door so I can have some privacy?"

I am used to finding him in the closet when he's working on his business - I'm just not accustomed to the request for privacy. I wonder if that would work for me?

"THAT looks like a moon"

I was watching the ultrasound video of our baby girl this morning. It was getting to the part where we discovered that she was a girl, when my 4 1/2 year-old walked by, pointed and said, "THAT looks like a moon". What could I do but laugh?

"How did THAT happen?"

Our four year old asked when we found out we're having a baby girl.

The question isn't about having a baby - it's about how it could be a girl (see previous post).