Zoë had quite the sleep-in this morning. After she woke up I asked her why she was so tired and she sheepishly answered that she'd stayed up reading (somehow even after we confiscated her flashlight and gave her melatonin and...)
We did a lot of Saturday chores today (not that the house even looks like we did anything—but I assure you we were working like beavers) and when I brought a pile of books upstairs to put away on the shelf in the little girls' room and glanced at Zoë's bed, I had to laugh.
She had been reading, indeed.
*****
Second of all, I checked out a book of "dad jokes" at the library, knowing full well that (a) the jokes would be groaners and (b) that Alexander would find them hilarious. So far I've been correct, but it's been enjoyable.
Tonight jokes were flying around the dinner table when Phoebe joined in. She is very vocal about getting her chance to speak. She'll say, "I want to say something!" or "Can I ask a question?" In this case she was shouting, "I have a joke! I want to tell a joke!"
She has to shout sometimes because with eight people around the table things can get kind of...loud...sometimes.
"Okay, okay!" I said. "Everyone—it's Phoebe's turn to tell a joke."
"Why," she began proudly, "does a whale and a octopus..."
She paused and stuck out her tongue to think for a moment before picking up her napkin and twirling it in the air above her head.
"...use their napkins?"
"I don't know," I said. "Why do the whale and octopus use their napkins?"
"Betuuuuuuz...their mommies said use your napkin!" she finished, giving the mommy role a very silly voice.
Everyone gave her some—evidently effective—sympathy laughter. She was so convinced this joke was funny that we heard it several times over.
Why do chicken-chicken-chickens use their napkins? Because their mommies said...use your napkin!
Why do elephants use their napkins? Because their mommy said...
Why do goldfish use their napkins?
You get the idea.
The punchline never got old.
That punchline is solid gold.
*****
She also wanted to tell some knock-knock jokes (which the other kids had been telling), but she (a) tends to rush the call-and-response portion and (b) gets it confused with a game we play at the pool (which she thinks of nonstop because she's always ready to go to the pool and asks every day if it's warm enough yet—it's not).
"Knock-knock! Who's there?" she said at dinner.
"The Big Bad Wolf!" one of the kids responded.
"What do you want?" Phoebe asked, very willing to switch gears. And then she answered her own question...again: "Coloured eggs!"
Andrew's forkful of food slowed on the way to his mouth as a question developed on his face.
"What colour?" the kids chorused.
"Ummm...black?" Phoebe guessed.
"No!" said Zoë.
"Orange?"
"No!"
"Blue?"
"Yes!!!"
Both girls jumped up from their seats and started chasing each other around and around the table.
"What...is...happening?" Andrew asked. "This is not a joke?? How do they all know what to say? Why are they running around? I do not understand what is happening..."
Once we got the kids back in their seats (because their mommy said, "No running at the dinner table!" Hahahahaha!) I explained that this is a game we play at the pool all summer long.
The kids consult each other to pick a colour, then proceed with the following dialogue until the colour is chosen:
Knock-knock!
Who's there?
The Big Bad Wolf!
What do you want?
Coloured Eggs!
What colour?
When the selected colour is chosen, everyone makes a dash for the other side of the pool. Whoever is tagged is the new wolf.
Sometimes we change the name of The Big Bad Wolf to "The Great White Shark" or some other sea creature (giant squid, etc.) and sometimes we change what it is the wolf (or what have you) is seeking. The kids like to do flowers or elements or whatever.
Most of the rules I've found online agree that the kids (or "chicks" or "eggs") should each choose their own colours, which they reveal to a "mother hen" figure (to make sure they are honest with the wolf, I guess), but I remember huddling up to choose a colour and everyone running at once...so that's how I play it with my kids in the pool.
Are we doing it wrong? Maybe.
Does it work? Sure.
It just turns out more like Sharks and Minnows (appropriate for the pool!) except that the shark doesn't quite know when it's going to call for all the minnows to join it in the sea (this website has the shark (1) calling for the fish to come play before (2) calling "shark attack," but the kids at co-op simply chant, "1, 2, 3! All the minnows in the sea!" and the kids book it across the gym...and slam into the wall with such force that one of our friends literally broke his arm last week during the game).
Man, the kids out here also play Sharks and Minnows in the deep end of the pool. They all dive in at once all over each other and it looks so terribly dangerous to me that I...don't really let my kids join in.
I'd be fine without the diving. But...yeah...the diving all over each other just gives me the shivers...and I'm just like, "Nope!"
Probably a lifeguard thing.
Anyway, Phoebe can't tell a proper knock-knock joke because she keeps falling into the "Coloured Eggs" pattern instead. And that's kind of funny!
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