Snippets From The Week: The March 17, 2012 Edition

Pa and I have a few favorite cereals that we eat after the kids go to bed. I know. Livin' it up. We happen to keep these boxes on the top shelf of the top cupboard in the kitchen. Out of the kids' reach, if you will.

Couple of days ago, I saw the Zig climbing all over the kitchen cabinets like a monkey, hanging on an open cupboard door and desperately trying to reach the peanut butter cheerios. All the while he was muttering to me, "Why do you put the cereal waaaay up here? I can't reach it! This is not a very safe place to keep the cheerios."

Dang it. Now I gotta find a different hiding spot.

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The Suz came running up to me (as she has just two speeds: running, and asleep) and started telling me a story, which was the standard shouting-slash-doesn't-know-when-to-stop story: "Mom! I went up to your room! And I knocked! And there was my bruther! And he was playing Legos! And I walked in and he said 'get out'! And then I came down the stairs and saw you!"

To which Cam replied by shouting through the heat vent in the floor, "TMD! TMD! TOO! MANY! DETAILS!!!"

Like mother, like son -- I finally asked the Suz, "Was there a point to this story?" And she, of course, said quite happily, "No!"

[I am totally gonna start a group called Introverts Anonymous. And I'll have meetings by myself and invite no one besides myself.  NO ONE!!!]

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Suz, looking at a picture of Zig with a dum-dum sucker in his mouth: "Mom! He has a CIRCLE in his mouth!"

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Snippets From The Week: The March 10, 2012 Edition

The girl and I were self-checking our books out at the library, all the while she was chatting to herself. "I have eight books. I am checking them out myself! Wait! I will count them! 1-2-3-4-5, oh wait, gotta start again, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8! Now I will put them in my bag! Hey where's my bag? Oh there it is! I'll put my books in my bag!" The whole time this stream of consciousness was going on, an Asian lady was beside us, watching the show. She finally asked, "Is she your daughter?" And I said, "Yes, she's adopted from China." And before I could get another word in edgewise, the Suz shouted out for all to hear, "MY MOM'S TEACHING ME TO SPEAK ENGLISH!!!!!"

And aren't I doing a great job.

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I got after the Suz for playing with her glasses. Her reply? "Oh, that's right! They're so expensible!" 

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The boys spent part of one afternoon seeing how many times and how fast they could say "Uncle Andy's Undies." And giggling like a couple of goofballs at their attempts.

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Back when the Suz was having such a hard time learning her colors, I started her on the Signing Time videos. She loved them, of course, because they mix learning with movement and songs. So when it came time for her to learn her letters and her numbers, I was sure to put the ABC / 123 DVD on repeat and voila, she was signing and singing her facts with ease.

Fast-forward a year or two, when the Suz is learning to add. She worked very hard one day to come up with 6 + 1, with her answer being "4." Took me a long time to figure out how she could be so far off on what (to me) seemed like a pretty simple problem. And then I realized she was using her "sign language fingers" to add--in sign language, the number "6" is the middle three fingers raised on one hand. So, three fingers ("six") plus one finger equals, YOU GUESSED IT, "FOUR."

Huh. Who else but the Suz would take me down such an interesting path with math?

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I was doing a little tracking of our field trip group's outings over the past four years, and as part of that, this random conversation came up:

Me: Do you guys remember the trip to the art place where you made crafts out of scrap materials?

Boys: No.

Me: Oh, you know, you made magnets and name badges and stuff like that.

Boys: No.

Me: I stayed home with the group of little kids and you rode with your friends so-and-so, remember?

Boys: Nope.

Me: That's when your friend so-and-so got carsick and puked out the window.

Boys: OH!!! WE REMEMBER THAT TRIP!!!

Yep. Makin' memories.

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We were talking one lunchtime about the ladies we know who are pregnant. From the Suz, "When someone's fat, that means there's a baby inside!"

To which I replied, "Do NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT say that the next time we're out and about."

Which means she absolutely will.

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During piano lesson:

Me: Well, you got the notes right on that song but why'd you skip all the rests?

Campers: It saves time.

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Snippets From The Week: The March 3, 2012 Edition

We finally took Ollie to get his first round of immunizations. Not bad for having the cat around for seven months, eh? We went to a clinic, which meant we still paid a bunch for the shots, but got to wait in line for a long time, too! Suz was off shopping with Pa while Ollie got his shots done, so she missed The Show. (After all, she equates "getting shots" with "Armageddon.") Her first words once she saw the cat were, "Did Ollie get his shots? Cuz I don't see any Band-Aids!"

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Suz: "Mom! Campers and I THINKED up a new game!"

Campers: "It's not, "thinked," it's "THUNK."

Me: "THOUGHT! It's THOUGHT!!!"

Campers: "I know. I just like to drive you crazy."

Me: *BIG SIGH*

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We have a scripture CD with a song to the verse, "Keep your tongue from e-e-vil," and the Suz has been listening to it all week. She's got the verse memorized, but too bad the words aren't right. The two most recent versions are, "Keep yo-self from me and you," followed by "Stick your tongue for me and you."

And for "Honor your father and mother," she's memorized (and sings at high volume), "I know your father and mother."

See? We are so on the ball.

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Kids sat down to dinner where there was a big bowl of cole slaw on the table. Suz hollers out, "Oh, yum! Slimy Joe!" (I assume she was thinking of sloppy joe, which we weren't having at all.)

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Thanks to the girl's gymnastics class and the kids being caged up inside, they've started doing somersaults all through the house. Over and over and over again, mostly on the couch. I can stand the noise and chaos for a few minutes before I, well, calmly ask them to do something else. *cough cough* The boys were able to trick me for a while, though, as they started saying to each other, "Hey! Let's go do our winter peppers!" It took me a while. Yes it did. Finally I realized they were speaking in code: winter peppers = summer salts. Huh. Score one for the kids.

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