Well-cultured

It's pretty bad when you four year old son is more "cultured" than you. We were driving to the park, the boys and I, and I had classical music on the radio. Quinn asked "what's this song?" I told him I had no idea. Colby piped up "It's the Donald Duck song!" I know that the boys' favorite movie of all time is Fantasia 2000, and in it, Donald Duck does Noah's Ark to Pomp and Circumstance... so when Colby says "Donald Duck", he really means "Pomp and Circumstance". Thing is, that wasn't this song. "No, Colby," I informed him wisely. "This isn't Pomp and Circumstance. That's a different song". He didn't contradict me. You know, Mom knows best. Not 30 seconds later, though, the song transitioned to the next movement, and sure enough... there was the traditional "DAAAA da da da DUMMMMM DUMMMMM" heard at every highschool graduation since the beginning of time. OOOOHHH. "Yeah, I guess it IS the Donald Duck song." Humility, thy name is motherhood.

Endless Questions

Quinn has been asking alot of questions lately. This is good, as I know it means he's curious, and wants to learn. The problem is, I don't really readily have answers to 96.9% of them. Here's a sample:

Q: "Mom, what are you doing?"
M: "Driving you to the doctor's."
Q: "No, what are you DOING?"
M: "Sitting?"
Q: "No, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
M: "I don't know".


Q: "Mom, what is the dirt doing?"
M: "Uhhhh... lying on the ground?"


Q: "Mom, who built that fence?"
M: "I have no clue."

Q: "Mom, what is dad doing?"
M: "Working?"
Q: "No, what is he DOING?"
M: "Sitting at the worksite?"
Q: "No, WHAT IS HE DOING?"
M: "I don't know."

Poor Beth

Poor Beth. While I was at work this morning, Beth tried to get the boys dressed. Colby didn't want Diego underwear. He wanted Mater underwear. Because their mother has yet to put the clean laundry away, and instead hides it behind her bed until she gets a chance to do it, Beth couldn't FIND Mater underwear. So she insisted Colby wear Diego. Colby then proceded to pee and poop his pants, and then innocently ask "NOW can I wear Mater underwear???" Answer: still no. We are NOT going to reinforce THAT.

Literary Warning

We checked out the book "The History of Mother Twaddle and the Marvelous Achievements of her son Jack" from the library. This is a retelling of the "Jack and the Beanstalk" story, based on the ORIGINAL version of that story published in 1807. The boys LOVE Jack and the Beanstalk, so I thought we had a winner here. Uhhhh. No. In this version, the giant gets drunk and passes out, and Jack beheads him with a knife, before running off and marrying the "servant girl". Nice. Just what I want to explain to four year olds. We'll be returning that one to the library soon.

THIS is the status of our mealtimes at the moment. Eat nothing, goof around, make your

brother laugh, burp, scatter your food all over the table and floor, then.... when Mom and Dad get upset and set the timer, shove the entire dinner in your mouth all at once. UGH! HOW do we teach little boys table manners??????

Life with the Big Boy

I know I intended this blog to be about the funny things the little boys say when they're not intending to be funny, but sometimes... I've got to record the things the big boy says when HE'S not intending to be funny. Rob has been buying beer in these miniature kegs for the past few weeks. They are stacking up in the yard, which made the wife unhappy. I asked him why he didn't recycle them or throw them away. "I was saving them for you to do a craft project with," he told me. How thoughtful. He suggested that I make a a snow man out of them for Christmas. No thank you. So tonight, he comes into the house and announces "I know what I'm going to do with those kegs. I'm going to glue them all together, and make a floating dock at my parents' house, for the boys to jump and swim off of!" He was very excited about this, and began slipping into engineer mode. "Each keg holds the equivalent of 11 pounds, which provides 11 pounds of buoyancy when filled with air. " Numbers began flying, brain wheels whirring, the density of water cogitated, designs imagined, and THIS was the final answer that came from all those calculations...... "Hmmmmm. I'm going to have to drink more beer."

How did I know that would be the answer?????

Maturation

WOW! The boys have had a brain-cell expanding day today. It all started with our conversation about registering for pre-school tomorrow. They are VERY excited about the prospect of school, and we talked about the "big boy" things they will be doing at school -- riding a bus, reading stories, singing songs, learning to write, and having a snack ("I don't want oranges" Quinn told me. I'll be sure and let the teacher know that ahead of time.) Anyways.... so, after this "big boy" conversation, these all-time "firsts" occurred in the household:

#1 - Both boys learned how to spell their names - not just "I start with a C" and "I start with a Q".

#2 - Both boys decided they wanted to learn how to write letters (previously very uninterested in most fine motor tasks) and traced the entire alphabet. Heretofore, we were limited to the letters "T" "H" "A" "O" "C" "X" and "Q". They even learned the song "where do you start your letters? At the top!"

#3 - Both boys took turns playing a memory game, actually followed rules, remembered where matches were - the works.

#4 - The boys voluntarily ate vegetables for lunch, noting that it was making them big and strong to eat carrots. Quinn even asked for second helpings!

#5 - This is a biggie -- BOTH BOYS ARE SLEEPING IN THE SAME BED FOR A NAP! What self control!!! We've been trying this for, I don't know, a year? We reviewed "the rules" for trying to sleep together, as usual. Then, Quinn asked "do superheros sleep?" I replied in the affirmative. Colby asked "Do superheros talk when they're trying to sleep?" Nope, just sleep. "Does sleep make superheros strong?" Yup. The strongest. That's all it took. They are desperate to become superheros. I didn't hear a peep after that!!

My little boys are growing up!

Brotherhood

As I was putting Quinn to sleep in the guest bedroom tonight, he began to look sad.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"I miss Colby." he replied. I knew that he has spent nearly every waking moment of the past 4 years of his young life with his brother, not to mention the 7 1/2 months of close quarters in the womb, and had seen the boy not more than 1 minute ago. How could he possibly MISS him?

"Would you like to go upstairs and see him?"

"Yes"

"So you want to fall asleep in your own bed?"

"Ohhh. No. I'll stay here."

So much for missing his brother. He went right to sleep without another word.

Going to Bed

I tried to let the boys fall asleep in the same room again tonight. Mistake. After 45 minutes and several dire warnings, I carried Colby upstairs to his own room.
"MOM!" he explained. "You can't put me to bed, I'm already asleep!"
"Then why are you talking to me?" I ask.
"I'm not. I'm asleep."
"Then who's talking to me right now?"
"Handy, my hand.". OOOOOHHHH. I see. Silly me. Don't you hate it when your handstays awake, and it's the REST of you that falls asleep????