Sunday Quotables
John: "I thought it was so cool the way the light slowly filtered into the room!" (After I drew the curtains in the dining room)

Daniel: "Did you see vat, Mama? Ve soap is sticky, wike ve vo-wews." (Referring to the Leapfrog Talking Word Factory video).

Isaac did a nice recap of his CGS Sunday School lesson about David and Jonathan. The arrows and spears probably didn't hurt his recall.

Labels: boy talk, boys, church

- posted by Lenise @ 5:17 PM |

 
Possibilities
Me: Isaac, how did you get to be so cute?
Isaac (thoughtfully): I don't know.
**pause**

Isaac: Maybe it's because I'm so sweet.

Labels: boy talk

- posted by Lenise @ 5:49 PM |

 
Party Time, Excellent..


Jay had a blast at his birthday party! Some new 6-y-o quotables:
~"Turkey sandwiches!!" *gasp* *gasp* "With CHEESE!!" (upon being asked to choose his birthday lunch)
~"I just can't thank you *enough* for the dinosaur pellets!" (bidding a generous friend goodbye)
~"It looks like the surface of Callisto, one of Jupiter's moons." (gazing into his microscope for the first time, at a Hershey's kiss paper flyer)
~"Fourteen" (Answering my question "How old is it?", a response to Isaac's assertion that today is Air's birthday)
~"I love it so much that I want to give you ten kisses. Or maybe twenty. Yes, I want to give you 20 kisses!" (before he kissed me 24 times, after seeing his cake with the green cacti)

We are so blessed and so very thankful for our wonderful 6-year-old, and his handsome brothers :)

Labels: birthdays, boy talk, cake

- posted by Lenise @ 7:22 PM |

 
Isaacism
Eating cashews at my parents' house: Isaac trots over and says, "Pwease may I have more twubbled nuts?" I drop some into his hand and ask, "How do you know they're troubled?" Never ever ever at a loss, Isaac shoots back, "Wook at 'em" cradling his dozen cashews, "Vey're day-ed!"

Labels: boy talk, humor

- posted by Lenise @ 4:29 PM |

 
Did You Know?
So Paul checked a book about Neptune out of the library for Jay the other day. Jay was engrossed in learning about Neptune when he stopped, looked up and asked me, "Did you know, Mama, that Neptune's axis is just imaginary?" When I mentioned that the earth's axis was also imaginary, he gasped in wonder and I proceeded to explain that the planets weren't attached to anything, but were held in their orbits by gravity. He was speechless.

Then last night, he returned to his book only to ask me in utter astonishment if I knew that the equator was also imaginary (he wasn't quite sure how to pronounce it, but it wasn't too hard to figure out his latest discovery). When I said that I did know that, he asked me, "Then why was it on my globe?" I didn't have a great answer for that one, put on the spot like that and all :)

For those of you who may have missed a few of my recent status updates:
- Went to a most excellent pig pickin' this evening (Ed. note: Sunday). Problem Child walked by the pig, took one look, and started asking (really loudly), "Pig? Are you alwight? Pig? Are you ALWIGHT?" This is how he gets away with being a Problem Child. The boy cracks us up on a regular basis. (Ed. note: He knew the pig was NOT awwight, he's just kinda crazy. He followed up this little gem with, "Did you know vat's a DEAD PIG?!? Have you evew heawd of a DEAD PIG?!?" He ate his BBQ!)
- Another budding doctor in the family? This time, Daniel extracted the pebble from his *own* nose as I was gathering shoes in preparation for my first trip to the local urgent care center. (Ed. note: this was about 90 minutes ago. Paul was at rehearsal :P)

Labels: boy talk, homeschool

- posted by Lenise @ 9:04 PM |

 
Reunion!


In case you didn't see them on Facebook, here are the photos from the reunion we were at this past weekend.

It's been an interesting month around here. There are considerably fewer mice in our house now, a rather large hole in the wall around our tub fixtures (pretty snugly covered with plastic sheeting), Isaac turned into a shark (Nooo!! I'm a fwendwy sawk! I onwy bite bad guys! I ONWY EAT BAD GUYS!!!), Daniel had a frightening fall, I had some more working evenings, and I found a group of people more Republican than I am (on average, anyhow).

Never a dull moment!!

Labels: boy talk, boys, home improvement, W and L, work

- posted by Lenise @ 9:58 PM |

 
??!!!??
Sunday after church we were at lunch with some friends. Jay started relating a kindergartner anecdote about prenatal times, "When I was still in-" only to be interrupted by Isaac, who supplied "prison!"

I just don't know sometimes whether I ought to laugh or cry... :)

Labels: boy talk, sibling rivalry

- posted by Lenise @ 10:46 PM |

 
Before I Forget
Jay said something else really charming at church (before the snowstorm, of course!) when we went to pick him up from children's church. It all started so predictably: "When I see food, I'm interested in eating it."

And then: "When I see Mama, I'm interested in kissing her."

Everybody together now: Awwww :)

Labels: boy talk, church

- posted by Lenise @ 10:57 AM |

 
"Sometimes People Lose Interest in Things"
Jay has been the quip king today. He got onto my facebook status earlier today with "I'm pretending to be God" while he was happily placing animal stickers on a pastoral/woodland scene. Then tonight he offered to read me a Magic Treehouse book. So in between his offer and helping him find all of them, I got interrupted by dessert, piano lessons, and the other boys (not necessarily in that order and certainly not in uniform frequency). Then he hemmed and hawed, but never said he'd changed his mind (I did tell him to tell me if he didn't want to read to me anymore), he delivered the classic line at the top. *Shaking head* He finally decided that he could "focus" his "reading concentration" enough to read us a picture book about LarryBoy and some special gumballs. This he did skillfully, and with lots of expression. I'm guessing the difference is that he's heard the LarryBoy book read out loud (and on numerous occasions), whereas his confidence regarding the Magic Treehouse books is considerably lower. Anyway, I thought the whole loss of interest quip was pretty clever.

Labels: boy talk, reading, VeggieTales

- posted by Lenise @ 8:32 PM |

 
Latest Isaac Quotation
"According to my research, this is my hat." -Isaac, as he removed the snake hat from Daniel's head
This follows
1. "That's why they're so easy to kill." Upon being exhorted to be a tough Viking, who could poop sitting on solid ice,
and
2. "Mama, God made you what I want you to be FOREVER!" In a successful attempt to wheedle me into making a batch of chocolate chip cookies.

What can I say? The boy can already out-argue me. There is a long, arduous journey ahead...

Labels: 3-year-olds, boy talk, boys

- posted by Lenise @ 9:59 PM |

 
Nutpack
We were looking at the giant Ocean book, which has some beautiful photos at the front before the text starts. One page had a pair of clownfish & the facing page was a photo of a dolphin. Isaac promptly named the two clownfish Nemo and Marlin, so I asked him the dolphin's name. Instead of the unintelligible series of syllables he's been supplying as names lately, he very simply said, "Nutpack". If that's not a perfect name for Isaac, I don't know what is. Just call him Nutpack.

Labels: 3-year-olds, books, boy talk

- posted by Lenise @ 1:24 PM |

 
Did That Crack You Up?
The boys were discussing the various volumes at which people communicate the other week. There isn't enough caffeine on the earth to allow me to remember a whole conversation around here nowadays, but I do remember the conversation ending with Isaac making an observation that Jay wholeheartedly agreed with: Apples talk silently. Well, it was funny at the time.

Jay thinks it's just awesome when he makes me laugh. I wish I could remember what he said the other night, but it tickled my funnybone, and I told him he cracks me up, whereupon he launched into a series of crazy stunts designed for my entertainment, punctuated with "Did that crack you up, Mama?" Sadly, the answer was mostly no, and now and again, his antics looked slightly dangerous- not the way to promote mirth in one's Mama. Naturally he did eventually come up with a few more funnies, but the amount of effort he put in was eye-opening (he still didn't want to carry in a grocery bag for me the next day...).

Daniel, now, is really getting to the age of cracking me up. He still will say "no" when he means "yes", but when he means "no", he'll add "uh-uh" and shake his head vigorously. No mistaking that one! Tonight, he wanted to "play on the bed" (I'll bounce him on my stomach to the Wm Tell Overture in the key of bum-de-bum, or he'll raise his arms, smile, and say "Aaaaa" while falling on top of me, or he'll climb over me, run around the bed, and repeat, or...). He was in the mood for "Ta Tell!" (Wm Tell), so we did that once, at which point Daddy came up to commence bedtime operations. Daniel yelled "'Gain!", so I told him we could do it one more time, and I may have had to repeat once more before I pitched him over sideways onto the bed. This time when he said "'Gain", I told him he had to go find Daddy. Whew! Not a peep did he utter, but his face went from bouyant to aggrieved and suspicious in a split second. He even did that furrowed-brow glower out of the corner of his eyes. I haven't laughed so hard in quite a while! A few seconds later, the tot was cheerfully bidding me goodnight from his Daddy's arms. He may end up being more of a dramatist than Isaac. Heaven help us.

Labels: baby talk, boy talk, boys

- posted by Lenise @ 9:48 PM |

 
How'd You Manage That?
Jay just came downstairs and said, "Guess what? Instead of a regular dream last night, I had a daydream!" Apparently it was about a black bug with white and yellow spots. "Oh," he concluded, "That's an instresting daydream!"

Not really up my alley but then I'm not a 5-yr-old boy!

Labels: boy talk, sleep

- posted by Lenise @ 8:01 AM |

 
Isaacism
The boys love Chicago IX. In the middle of the horn-blowin', drum crashin' melodies is "Color My World", a quiet piano ballad. As the first bars played, Isaac announced, "This song is called, 'They Couldn't Blow Their Trumpets'".

No word on the cause...

Labels: boy talk, music

- posted by Lenise @ 5:25 PM |

 
Too Honest for Advertising
Overheard: "Isaac, that's newer than ever!! ... That's more new than usual."

Labels: boy talk

- posted by Lenise @ 2:59 PM |

 
From the Mouths of Babes...
Yesterday Isaac's Sunday School class decorated foam crosses with little glue-on plastic jewels. Pretty!

As we were headed out to lunch, I noticed him peeling his jewels off the cross. "Why are you doing that, Isaac?" I asked, "Those are to make the cross pretty!"

"I don't want the cross to be pretty." He replied, and then a moment later he added, "God doesn't want the cross to be pretty".

A little stunned, I agreed that he had a point, but I'm still not sure if it was inspired or just inspired-appearing contrariness. We talked a little about the sad day at the cross and the joy that came afterwards, but I don't think it all sunk in too well. I was recounting the story to the friend we met at the restaurant, and after I told her what Isaac had said, Jay opined, "Yeah- God doesn't like pretty things!"

Again, I really don't know if he was misguided or just mischevious, but Karen and I assured the boys that God DOES like beautiful things, and we all thought of beautiful things He had made.

It's a roller coaster ride, this parenting business!!

Labels: boy talk, church

- posted by Lenise @ 8:34 PM |

 
Wha...?
We ate Sunday lunch in a deli-style restaurant not far from church. Our table was near the front window, where the restaurant's feature offerings were painted around the edges. Paul pointed to an item near our table and asked Jay what it said. Before he could answer, Isaac blurted out "Sweet tea!" Astonished, I gave Paul a "What just happened here?" look. I promise we weren't talking about beverages, there are no portrayals of items in the window, so it was quite a coincidence. I'm not at all sure whether he was looking at the window- maybe somebody with a sweet tea had walked past. All I know is, I'll be keeping a closer eye on that one.

Labels: boy talk, eating

- posted by Lenise @ 9:09 PM |

 
Well in THAT Case...
I have misjudged my eldest. I thought the boy would eat anything, however, as we were returning from the grocery store yesterday, Jay suddenly remarked, "There are some things I don't like to eat. I don't like to eat trees. I don't like to eat signs. I don't like to eat cats. I don't like to eat houses."

I feel deeply ashamed. Deeply.

Labels: boy talk, eating

- posted by Lenise @ 5:38 PM |

 
Future Film Director
At dinner tonight, Daniel was sitting in Isaac's old seat (the "big" boys now have their own dining and activity table, generously provided by Heather & Greg, though Isaac likes to remind us that Daniel's seat is his anyway) with a couple of toys on the tray to keep him busy. One of these toys was the zebra from the Little People zoo set, and Daniel was demonstrating his proficiency in zebra-toppling (Isaac was aiding him in this by popping out of his seat to right the equine every time it fell). Jay remarked at the first toppling "That was not passionate."

I asked him if that was what he had said, and he repeated it. He kept saying that as the zebra fell again and again. Finally he said, "Babies are not passionate with zebras." The lightbulb went on. "Jay," I said, "do you mean 'compassionate'?" "Yeah, babies are not compassionate with zebras. They knock them over. Even big zebras."

There you have it from the expert (a boy who is still convinced that zebras say "Zzzzzzz").

Labels: babies, boy talk, zebras

- posted by Lenise @ 11:05 PM |

 
Speaking of Sarcasm...
We were at a function for my company Saturday when I took the outdoor photos. Paul asked me if I knew everyone there. "Yes," I said, "but they don't like me. That's why they aren't saying hello." Jay, with a frightening lack of astonishment, looked at me and asked, "Because you were mean to them?"

*Wince*

Labels: boy talk, comedy

- posted by Lenise @ 9:48 PM |