Vitamins

Green Pea and Comma have a CD of Bible verses put to music that they listen to while falling asleep. Green Pea came to me one day very perplexed and asked, "Why does my CD say that the bad people will eat vitamins?"

I asked him to tell me which track it was on and we listened to it together. It was Proverbs 13:2 "A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence."

How I know I should probably be spending more time outside with my kids...

A few days ago we set up the dancing caterpillar sprinkler in the backyard for the kids to cool off. While they were running through it, Comma found a feather in the grass.

M.E.: Comma, do you know what this is?
Comma: A feather!
M.E.: Do you know where it came from?
Comma: The couch!
M.E.: Well, that's not a bad guess - the cushions in our couch do have feathers in them and once in a while one comes out, but this feather didn't come from there. Where do you think it came from?
Comma: A pillow!

Now I know how my mother felt...

...when I insisted on having mile-high bangs back in the late '80s.

Green Pea has been styling his hair to look like an old-man combover and regardless of how many times that I tell him it looks ridiculous, he thinks it's totally cool. I suppose that pictures like this will provide endless entertainment for his kids someday, but for now it just makes me want to tear my own hair out!

career changes

Our conversation while driving home from the store today:

Green Pea: I want to be a money loaner when I grow up.
M.E.: Ok.
Green Pea: What do you do if you're a money loaner?
M.E.: Well, you have money to invest and people who want to start a business or something come and tell you about their business plan and you try to decide who has a good plan and can grow their business and pay back the money.
Green Pea: I want to be a teacher and a pizza maker and then I'll try to be president.
M.E.: Oh, really?
Green Pea: Yeah, I'll be a teacher when I first move out of the house and get my own house and then after that I'll be a pizza maker and then I'll try to run for president.
M.E.: Where does being a money loaner figure into all that? I thought you wanted to be a money loaner.
Green Pea: (dismissively) Oh, I'll do that when I'm a teenager!

Scotch tape can fix anything

Comma is very fussy about his food being in what he considers good condition and consumed in the manner he approves. If a corner breaks off of a slice of cheese before it's placed on his cheeseburger, as far as he's concerned it's damaged goods and he doesn't want it. He likes to eat his bananas "like a monkey" - meaning with the peel partially peeled back but NOT completely removed. I made the mistake of peeling a banana too far down for his liking one day and he was adamant that he wasn't going to eat it. Trying to avoid a big battle over nothing, I offered to tape the peel back together closer to the top of the banana. Comma accepted this remedy and proceeded to eat his banana. I didn't think much about it until a few weeks later when he was picking up a burger (minus the bun, which he prefers to eat separately) and a large chunk of it broke off. He immediately dissolved into tears and insisted that I fix it. I tried to explain that I couldn't stick the burger back together - it would just come apart again. He started shouting, "Then tape it!" I told him that it wouldn't work and I was not going to tape his burger back together. His frustrated response: "Why not? It worked with the banana!"

Flying

This morning, Green Pea was testing my patience by jumping off of anything he could - the couch, his bed, the stairs, etc. I asked him to stop repeatedly and finally asked him why he couldn't hold still and insisted on jumping off everything and whether he trying to destroy our house.

Green Pea: I'm doing it because I'm trying to fly.
M.E.: Oh, don't try that. You'll just get hurt. Ask Uncle T. When he was little, he flew right into a closet and smacked his head.
Green Pea: (incredulously, but hopefully) HE FLEW?

Superhero

This afternoon Green Pea came to me with three pieces of Kleenex scotch-taped together lengthwise.
Green Pea: Can you put this in my back?
M.E.: Why?
Green Pea: (nonchalantly, as if it's perfectly obvious) For a cape.
M.E.: Ok. (I stop rinsing the dishes and step away from the sink, looking around the kitchen for a towel)
Green Pea: (impatiently, with a bit of exasperation) But don't touch it with wet hands!
M.E.: Don't worry, I'll dry them. (I proceeded to dry my hands and went to grab his "cape")
Green Pea: (with distrust, grabbing my hand and inspecting it for stray moisture) Let me check them.

After I secured the "cape" to the back of his shirt, he proceeded to dance around the house singing about how he's a superhero and he's off to save the world and the world is waiting for him. Then he decided he should pack a snack in case he got hungry while he was saving the world. He got his lunch bag and I heard the refrigerator open. A little while later he asked if I could cut up some strawberries for his snack. Even superheroes need their mommies.

Introvert vs. Extrovert

We had a bunch of moms and kids from church over this morning (12 moms, 21 kids). The kiddos were quite cooperative about preparing to host, but their anticipation of it was very different.

Green Pea was awake very early this morning but waited until 6:30 when he heard Wise Dad showering to get up. He came downstairs and got dressed without any reminders and then enthusiastically offered to help in any way he could (this is a kid who normally abhors work). He completed several tasks I gave him and tried to be helpful in any way he could.

Comma HATES crowds. He is normally eager to help and an efficient worker, but this morning he was not so inclined to assist me. While I was getting him dressed he asked in an exasperated voice, "Why are all these children coming to my house every day?" Toward the end of the visit, when the moms were getting their kids together and we were clearing snacks off the table, he was overheard telling one little boy (who happens to be one of his favorite friends), "You need to go home now." He started sulking and whining and just generally shutting down. He had had enough.

It's just a hunch, but I'm guessing these two are at opposite ends of the E-I scale in those personality tests.

My Kid in 6 Words or Less

Have you seen that thing where people try to write their autobiography in six words or less? Comma did that (unintentionally) after church yesterday. We were in the minivan, about to pull out of the parking lot, and waving to a few people who were walking out of church. From the back seat we heard Comma say cheerfully, "Bye-bye, too much people!"

leaving the lights on

A few weeks ago, Wise Dad's car battery died and when we tried to jump it, we attached the ground too close to the engine and it didn't work. So we thought the starter was broken and called AAA to tow it. Green Pea and Comma waited in breathless anticipation for Tow Mater to come to their house. When the towing service showed up, it was a platform-style tow truck and the boys were visibly disappointed. Green Pea even asked the driver if perhaps another tow truck - with a hook - was coming to our house as well.

The tow truck driver explained what I'd done wrong and we got Wise Dad's car started so we could take it to the shop and get a new battery. I didn't realize that this incident made an impression on Comma.

Comma turned on the light over his seat in the minivan this week and forgot to switch it back off. This led to a sharp reproof from Green Pea, who told him that leaving lights on in the car can kill the battery. Later that day we were driving home from dropping Green Pea off at school and I heard Comma say disapprovingly from the back seat, "That car left its lights on!" I didn't think much off the comment until a few minutes later I saw a platform-style tow truck with a car on it about to pass me. Comma's voice was full of reproach as he commented, "There's that car that left its lights on. And it runned the battery out!"

Great Quote about the U.S. Constitution

Thomas Jefferson, in an 1803 letter to Senator Wilson Cary Nicholas of Virginia respecting the Louisiana Purchase, explained:

Our peculiar security is in possession of a written Constitution. Let us not make it a blank paper by construction. I say the same as to the opinion of those who consider the grant of the treaty-making power as boundless. If it is, then we have no Constitution. If it has bounds, they can be no others than the definitions of the powers which that instrument gives. It specifies & deliniates the operations permitted to the federal government, and gives all the powers necessary to carry these into execution....

from Mark Levin's Liberty and Tyranny, by way of Andy McCarthy at National Review's The Corner

Words of Affirmation

Green Pea had his first spelling test on Friday. He aced it, and his teacher wrote WOW! on it and gave him a sticker. Green Pea thought that his accomplishment deserved a little more celebration than that and he added his own editorial comments to the test: Grat! (great), Hip-Hip! Hera! (hip-hip hooray) and Tak Gonis! (thank goodness).

We'll keep working on that spelling.

Punctuation

A couple of weeks ago, Green Pea's Sunday School teacher shared a story from class with me. She changed the bulletin board in their classroom to an Easter theme, including, among other things, a cross and the words "Thank you Jesus". She gave the kids an in-depth explanation (at least for 4 and 5 year olds) of the significance of Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross to the kids and how under the Mosaic Law people had to sacrifice their best lamb to atone for their sin. She told them that it would be something like if they had to give up a favorite toy when they sin. She concluded by emphasizing how thankful we can all be that Jesus was willing to be the perfect sacrifice for our sin.

Green Pea raised his hand when she asked if there were any questions. "You forgot to put an exclamation point after the 'Thank you Jesus'", he corrected her.

because it's always been done that way...

Does anyone else ever wonder why we award diplomas based on the amount of time spent in school? (as opposed to how much you learned)

Why do we insist on measuring food for recipes by volume, when weight would create far less batch-to-batch variation? (and relatively inexpensive and highly accurate scales are widely available)

Monsters

Comma has reached the age where he is afraid of monsters at night. We're getting a little more insight into his fear than when Green Pea went through a similar stage because he talks to his brother about it. The other morning when he got up he was acting a little fearful and wanted to be snuggled. That led to this exchange:

Comma: (apprehensively) The monsters are dead?
M.E.: Yes
Green Pea: There aren't any monsters.
Comma: Yes there are. But now they're dead 'cause the sun came up.
(Long pause)
Comma: Dinosaurs are dead?
M.E.: Yes
Green Pea: No, they're extinct.
M.E.: Are you worried about dinosaurs?
Comma: No, they got stinked.
Green Pea: Are there monsters?
Comma: (indignant) No! They're dead. The sun came up and killed them!

My Cast of Characters

Green Pea: 5 years old, very creative, loves to pretend, fun-loving, thoughtful and considerate with peers, deep thinker, good at math

Comma: 3 years old, shy, very cautious, reticent about change, very cuddly and affectionate, craves order, loves being helpful

Goobee: 9 months old, happy, curious, loves to laugh, very social and vocal, flexible (a good quality in a third child)

Mother Extraordinaire: that's me (I'm not really extraordinarily good at mothering-quite the contrary-but it has a nice ring to it)

Wise Dad: my wonderful husband (who is also a great dad) who has also been known to be a bit of wise guy sometimes

First Post

Well, I'm going to try this again. I started a blog over 4 years ago and then didn't keep up with it, but I've had two more kids since then, which provides me with a lot more material to blog about.