L2 to MrA.: I needed to see the fire, so I put my head on. But I didn’t put my hat on.
John Deere
L2 (upon seeing a John Deere dealership in Alberta): I know what those are! Those are John Deere Grandpa tractors like what go in the field at Grandma’s house. I know how to go on the tractor. I know how to get my pants dirty and climb on the tractor and work hard. That’s what I know how to do.
Growling tummies
Me: It’s past supper time. Are you hungry?
L1: Yes, my tummy is growling!
L2: My tummy is growing too! It’s growing into a baby!
Very yummy?
L2 with his fork poised over peach cobbler: Is it very yummy or a smaller yummy?
Where are the mountains?
Driving through the country roads of Delaware…
J: Mommy, where are the mountains?
Me: They’re in Colorado.
J: I want God to move the mountains so we can see them here too.
A few minutes later…
J: A mountain! Mommy, we can pretend the trees are mountains!
Song Lyrics
One of the kids praise CDs included the song “Hallelu, Hallelu…. Praise Ye the Lord!” I attempted to teach the boys how to stand up/sit down and sing it, but we didn’t get very far with the concept. They remembered it, none the less, as illustrated by L2’s comment a few days later.
L2: “Mommy! I’m “‘lula!”
L1: “And I’m ‘Crazy the Lord!'”
Eating Napkins
L1 (whining): Mommy, I don’t want to eat my napkin.
Me (confused, but giving the simple answer): Fine. Don’t eat your napkin.
L1 (still whining): But Mommy, why can’t I eat my napkin???
L2: Because it’s a napkin! It’s not food!!!
Over the Fence
I was tucking the boys into bed tonight when L1 casually mentioned: “We throwed our frisbees over the fence.”
Me: You WHAT???
L1: “We throwed the frisbees over the fence. We tried to throw the t-ball set over the fence too, but it wouldn’t go. Just the balls.”
Me: Which fence?!? (Our yard borders four different yards.)
L1: “The backyard fence.”
I headed down to tell MrA… “Um… the boys threw the frisbees over the fence.” We headed to the back fence to take a look. Sure enough, a slat had been knocked down from the 6′ privacy fence and we could see three frisbees, two t-balls, two empty animal cracker containers, an empty apple sauce jar, and two 2x4s lying in Mr. Neighbor’s yard.
I returned to the boy’s room and asked them about the damaged fence.
L1: “The fence was a little damaged. So we damaged it just a little bit so we could get our frisbees.”
Me: What about the big pieces of wood? Did you throw those over the fence or put them through the fence?
L1: “Through the fence. We were using them to try to push the fence down. We were trying to get the frisbees, but we couldn’t get them through the hole, so we were using the big pieces of wood to push the fence down.”
MrA and I cracked up with laughter once out of the boys’ room and went to figure out a plan. Mr. Neighbor’s lights were still on, so we dropped him a quick text. Amiable as usual, he met us at the fence and proceeded to gather up frisbees, balls, and containers and pass them back over the fence to us. We had already pulled the 2x4s back through the fence and returned them to their rightful spot in the scrap lumber pile. MrA had brought a hammer, so we nailed the fence board back into place as we laughed a bit more over little boy antics.
Then we went back to the boys’ room for a long, somber lecture on not throwing things over fences and not damaging fences and not pushing over fences.
Boys tucked in, we left the room… and laughed again.
Like Someone is Splashing Me
Boys in bathtub. Bloodcurdling screams from L1. Mother enters and intervenes.
Me to L1: Next time you can say, “L2, stop splashing me please.” That works much better than screaming like…. me trails off, about to say “like someone is murdering you,” but I didn’t want to have to introduce or explain the phrase.
L1 fills in: …like someone is splashing me.
It Needs Some Batteries
L2 (holding a disconnected hose spray nozzle): Hey Mom? I need some batteries for this. So it works. Like Daddy’s.