1) While getting ready to head outside to play in the leftover snow (probably on Saturday or Sunday).
Phoebe: Will you put garbage bags on my feet?
Me: Sure. I can help you with that.
Phoebe (to Miriam): Are you putting garbage bags on?
Miriam: No. I am going to exercise self-restraint.
Phoebe: Oh. Well, I am not going to do that.
Me: I pretty much bank on you not doing that in any given situation, so...
Phoebe: And that's why I need garbage bags?
Me: And that's why you need garbage bags.
2) While reading to the children from Anne of Avonlea.
Me: "…they would remember and practice them long after they had forgotten the capital of Afghanistan and the dates of the Wars of the Roses."
Zoë: War of the…
Benjamin: War of the Roses, yes. That is a war fought between the French, I believe. And there were white roses and red roses. And each side was led by a teacher. And…
Me: Hold up, hold up. I think it was the English, not the French.
Benjamin: Ah, yes! The English!
Me: And teachers??? Where did you get teachers from??? This says the war was between the…oh. Oh! How long ago did you read about this war?
Benjamin: Years ago. It was here, so within five years probably. So maybe when I was 8 or so. It was in a picture book about the Tudor family and…
Me: Say that again.
Benjamin: It was in a picture book about the Tudor family.
Me: Did you…did your little brain…assume that Tudor was “tutor” and you just locked that away as “teacher” for all these years?!
Benjamin: Yup. That, uh, yup. Seems to be the case.
3) Phoebe is really excited about the pool opening up in May, so we've been working on reciting our months of the year (mostly through a little song). So there are two stories for this one.
Phoebe: Mom, did you know that soon it's going to be Easter?
Me: I did know that Easter is coming, yes.
Phoebe: And did you know that it will be Easter before May, before the pool opens in May?
Me: I'm not quite sure when Easter will be this year, but it makes good sense for it to happen before May. You know, there's another holiday coming up that might interest you. It's called Valentine's Day.
Phoebe: Oh, wow! I love it! Can we do it?
Me: Sure. We can celebrate Valentine's Day. We...
Phoebe: Can I bring these toys that I packed in this bag?
Me: Uhh...sure.
Phoebe: Great! Will you be there, too?
Me: I will be there, yes. But Valentine's Day isn't a place to go to so much as it is a kind of celebration that we do...
And singing at the dinner table...
Phoebe: Mar-chand April. January. Gee, I don't know this song very well.
4) Zoë and Andrew were telling us about a podcast they were listening to while waiting for Miriam to finish with her organ/piano stuff this evening (Zoë and Miriam take turns having lessons; Andrew sits in the car).
Zoë: And we also learned in the podcast that, like yawns, itching is contagious. Our brains see someone else itching and then start telling us that it's a good time to take care of some itches ourselves.
Everyone: *starts itching*
Zoë: And if you don't take part in these community events like yawning and itching, it's often a sign that you're highly psychopathic. Uh-oh! MOM! You're not itching!!
Me: I'm not itchy.
Alexander: Uh-oh! Is mom a cyclops? Wait, this is all so obvious. If we want to determine whether or not someone is a cyclops, can't we just count their eyes? Mom has two...so she's not a cyclops.
Andrew: Psychopath. A little bit different from a cyclops...
5) While the three oldest kids were at mutual, Andrew and I played Scram with Zoë and Alexander. Phoebe drew pictures. And then decided to gift them to me and Daddy.
Phoebe: I’m going to take these pictures and put them on your nightmare!
Me: What’s a...nightmare?
Phoebe: You know! It’s a little desk what goes aside your bed for you to keep pictures and water bottles on.
Me: Ah, yes. That nightmare.
And here are her pictures. This first one she told me that I should just know what it is:
This second one she wrote the title at the top of the page in orange. It says, "Phoebe's Swamp" and is a picture of our family hiking:
6) After scriptures and prayer, Andrew was reminding the kids how long they had until their bedtimes, which we recently gradated by age, granting the budding pre-teens later bedtimes than the elementary school kids. Rachel and Miriam just do whatever they want by this stage.
Andrew: …and at 9:44 and 47 seconds you cannot start yelling at Zoë about how it’s time to go to bed.
Benjamin: But that makes me happy.
Zoë: Ah-ha! I knew it! You’ve been doing it just to bug me and I knew it! I can keep track of my own time, Benjamin!!
No comments:
Post a Comment