Out of the Mouths of Babes

A few of my favorites from the mouths of my own rugrats at some point in their lives (to be added to when to not do so would be neglecting the spirit of childhood...

Daegan is a very sentimental and loving child. He has recently been on a kick asking Patrick and I "where our heart is," to which we respond by showing him the location of our hearts in our chests. About a week ago, I was coming inside with the kids, Holt and I ahead of the older two and I heard a loud pop. I knew from the silence that someone had been hit. Sure enough, Daegan began crying and I asked what happened. Lilee stood looking guilty and Daegan, between sobs, heaved out "Lilee broke my heart!" (Lilee had hit him in the chest for throwing her Webkin across the room). It was the sweetest and saddest thing to hear him say those words! (12/28)

So...more days have passed than usual with my children not enlightening me with their vast wisdom, but today it finally happened--twice! First, Daegan, Lilee and her friend Lilianna got in a bit of trouble when playing on our water slide. Needless to say they were all put in time out. When the appropriate time had passed, the girls were asked if they knew why they were in time out, to which they replied correctly their wrondoings. Daegan, when asked the same question, stated quite accurately (and in all seriousness): "Because you told me to!" I'm not so sure a lesson was learned by him, but I sure did learn a lot about how to phrase questions with a 4 year old!

One evening, quite late, Lilee wanted strawberries. I thought, "No problem. Their healthy, she's hungry, I'll give the kid what she wants." So, as I'm getting them ready, she says: "If you eat lots of strawberries you'll get fat. Is that right?" I said, "No, strawberries are good for you. They won't make you fat." She then said, "Oh. So if you eat a few strawberries you'll be short!" Somehow along the way to learning to eat healthy, Lilee thinks you are either fat or short (I don't think she understands the word skinny).

My mom was taking Lilee and my grandmother (Lilee's GiGi) to an apple orchard somewhere in Jasper to get some, well, apples. So, on the way Lilee asks: "Nana, where are we going?" So my mother tells her they are going to get apples. Lilee promptly responded: "What the he - - do we need apples for?" My grandmother about died and my mom made Lilee repeat herself (thinking she had heard wrong). Nope...let's just say Lilee's vocabulary is vast; a sign of intelligence I think. (Or the direct influence of my brother, but it's hard to say which.)

Ah, the wonders of Harry Potter began early for Daegan. He was three when he proclaimed: "I want Pot!"--meaning of course he wanted to watch Harry Potter on DVD.

When my daughter was maybe two, we dealt with tantrums by saying: "Lilee, No Fits!" She would promptly respond by trying to repeat us: "No Sh--!" This became problematic when she would try to discipline other children who were throwing fits (particulary at church)...

You're probably wondering about Holt...well, truth is he is a man of few words ("eat" and "more" being his favorites). I think when he can finally talk we are in for an earful.

Words of Wisdom

Notes to self:

1) It is better to remove a child from the tub after he has finishedpeeing as opposed to while he is committingthe act. (Yes, even if his siblingsare still in the tubwith him).

2) If your four year-old is going to the bathroomand suddenly gets up and shuts the door and locks it, all is not okay. He is not looking for privacy, he islooking to paint--and, no, brown is not color I had intended for thebathroom.

3) Kids take things literally--that's why parents must be very sharp. Apparently, I am not. I mistakenly watched Eragon with myson and after seeing a dragon hatch from an egg, hedecided to break a few on his bedroom floor before anyone in the house woke up. I'm assuming he musthave been disappointed that the first was not a dragon--thus the second and third egg. Anyone know how to get egg out of the carpet?

4) Please excuse any spelling errors or runonwords as two year olds are fascinated with taking keys off of keyboards and I was not completelysuccessful at reattaching the spacebar.

Rear View

This school year brought with it long, and sometimes very loud adventures. Lilee, Daegan, and Holt all began going to Ocee Elementary School in Alpharetta. This means my morning and afternoon commute is often full of lively laughter, uncontrollable giggles, and on rare occasions the early morning grumpies--me, not the kids;). My camera was close at hand one recent afternoon, providing me the perfect opportunity to snap a shot of what I get to see every day during my commute...



I have to remind myself daily that NewsTalk750 really isn't all that interesting anyways and that one day I will miss these loud, boisterous hours of commuting.