May 2018

The boys were playing outside as a missions person shared with the interns at our house this evening.  I eventually heard L3 (26mo) fussing and went out to see what was going on.  I found him with his pants pulled down around his ankles and a dirt-filled diaper sagging and… as I got closer, I realized he was covered with fine, black dirt.  His hair, his clothes, his nostrils, his ears, his eyelids, his mouth…. every part of him was covered in dirt.

Me to L1 (6yrs) and L2 (4.5yrs): Why are L3’s pants down?
L1: Because we wanted him to go pee and poop in the pee and poop area we made out here. But he wouldn’t go.
Me: And why is he covered in dirt?
L1: Because we wanted to pretend he was a dog, so we covered his face with dirt, trying to make it black like a dog’s face.
L2 (pointing to a pile of dark, fine, rick composting soil): We were using this.  See?!?

I brought the boys in and separated them and spent most of the rest of the evening giving baths.  L3 required two baths and 8+ q-tips before he was mostly respectable.  I was very thankful that I cut their hair this morning — made it much easier to clean.

We were at a friend’s house today and they have a pair of moose antlers mounted on the halfway landing of the stairs to their basement. The older two boys were playing with Duplos downstairs and L3 (24mo) had just gotten up from his nap. We asked him if he wanted to go play Duplos with his brothers and he excitedly wiggled down to go do that. He listened carefully to locate their voices and then headed to the stairs to join them. However, he soon came running back.

L3: Bah!
Me: Bear??
L3 signs “scared”
Me: You’re scared? What are you scared of?
L3 points towards the staircase and signs “bear”
Me: You’re scare of the bear? What bear?
L3: Tsss! (the sound he makes when he doesn’t have the words he wants) Up, peas!!!
Me: Do you want me to take you downstairs?
L3 gives a happy/yes-grunt. “Down”

We had just started down the steps to the basement when he pointed to the moose antlers and signed “scared” and “bear.”

Me: OHH!!! Is that what you’re scared of?
L3: yes-grunt. Signs “scared” points at anters. Tsss!

I quickly gave him an education on moose and bear. And let him touch a set of deer antlers that were reachable in the basement. He was still scared of them, but not as much by the time we left. 🙂

The boys found a cucumber in my grocery bags today.

[Various boys] Mom, is this a cucumber?  Can we eat it?

L2 (4.5yrs): It’s LARRY!!!!
L1 (6yrs): Let’s go find a tomato!
Mom: I don’t have any tomatoes.
Boys: Let’s eat him!  Yeah – let’s eat him!
Mom: Do you really want to eat Larry?
Boys: YEAH!!!!!!!!  Let’s eat Larry!!!

L2 runs off to get a cutting board and paring knife.  Next time I see him, he’s poised with the knife over the cucumber on the cutting board.  L2: I‘m going to cut him!  It’s the end of your life, cucumber!  He’s going to bleed!!!!! 

<<cuts cucumber in half>>

L2 picks up both ends of the cucumber and give a high-pitched, dramatic “dying” scream: AHHHHHH!!!!!!! I’m BLEEDING!!!!!!!!   <<back to his regular (but vengeance-filled) voice>>  I’m going to cut you some more!!!!  <<cuts cucumber into smaller circles and continues the drama>>

At bedtime…

L2 (4.5yrs): I was astonished to see Clifford tonight, Mommy. And Clifford was astonished to see me!

Me (recognizing a new word being tried out): You were astonished, eh?

L1 (6yrs): What does astonished mean?

L2: Like Jesus’ friends were astonished when they saw him talking to the woman!

Me: Is that where you learned that word? I’d been playing audio version of the Gospel of John at bedtime for them.

L2: Uh-huh!

L2 (4.5yrs) helping two Lego men converse:

Lego man 1: Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob who is now sleeping?

Lego Man 2: Yes, I am God!

Man 1: No, you’re just pretending.

Man 2: I’m just pretending.

The boys were at a homeschool event where part of the activity was a teacher guiding them through understanding music rhythm. They went through an imaginary blast off and landing and exploration of Jupiter.

Talking about it that evening, L1 said: She should have picked another planet. Jupiter is a gas giant. You can’t stand on it or land a space ship on it.

L2 (4.5yrs) gave his stuffed doggy, Clifford, a leash today.  I asked him if he got the idea after seeing our neighbor walking his dog on a leash yesterday.

L2: “Yes, that suggested the probability to me that Clifford would need a leash.”

L2 (4.5yrs) was cleaning off the breakfast table while singing repetitively: You…are my favorite color, God!  You…are my favorite color, God!  You….are my favorite color, God!

Eventually, he turned to me and said, “You’re not my favorite, Mom.  Only GOD is!”

I don’t mind that.

L1: L3 is sleeping a long time this morning!

Me: Yes, so I’m going to go take a shower before he wakes up.

L2 (in a sappy, sweet voice with a big smile as he grabs my arm possessively): Oh, no you won’t….

L2 (4.5yrs old) while eating corn on the cob: Eating corn on the cob is like eating an apple, except corn on the cob has this little round things [indicates the kernals] and these fuzzy things [the area where he had eaten the kernals] and apples don’t. They have brown seeds in the middle. And you don’t eat those. But… that’s the difference.