Eyes

Edee has been curious lately about physical characteristics and what I mean when I say, "you have my mouth" or "you have your daddy's toes."  I've tried to give her a simple explanations about genetics before, but not sure it really sunk in.

I overheard Daddy trying to explain it to her.

Daddy:  Edee, where do you get your blue eyes from?
Edee (pointing to me and Daddy): You and you!
Me:  Chicken, where do you get your blue eyes from?
Chicken:  From Jesus.
Me:  Well that's true too.

Ice Cream Truck

We have always referred to the ice cream truck as "the music truck".   We've kept the ruse going for almost five years.  Note the Almost.

We were at the local lake when here it comes.

Edee:  Yay!  Da music tuck!
Chicken (Dancing):  Music tuck!!!
Me:  Yay!  Wahoo!
Some random kid nearby:  Mom!  Can I get some ice cream??
Some other random kid:  Ice cream truck!
Me:  Blast.
Edee:  .....Mom?  What's inside da music tuck?
Me:  What do you mean?
Edee:  Is dere ice keam inside da music tuck?
Me:  Mmmm....it's fun to listen to the music!
Edee:   Mommy, I think there's ice keam in da music tuck!
Me:  Yes....there is.  Most people call it an ice cream truck and can buy ice cream from it.

Defeated.

Lucky

Edee has been telling Chicken all about grown-up life and the real world lately.

Edee:  Chicken, did you know dat dere are some kids who don't have mommies and daddies?  And dere are some people dat don't have houses. And dey can't take good care of dere houses and dey don't yook nice, AND dey don't have mommies who bake for dem!! And no moms or dads.  And dey dust have junk food all da time, an no mommies to bake dem a cake.  We are yucky, Chicken, we have a mommy and daddy.
Chicken:  Yeah we are yucky!
Edee: Yeah and dey are not yucky!
Chicken:  Dey are not yucky!
Edee:  Yeah, dey are not yucky.  But we are yucky!
Chicken:  Yeah!

How can you NOT giggle listening to that serious conversation about how yucky lucky we are? :)

College

Apparently Edee-the-four-year-old is already thinking about her future quite extensively.  I can't even think of the last time there was any mention of college, but she has had lots of questions about it before.  Judging from this conversation I overheard her having with Chicken, it's safe to say that she is looking forward to growing up and moving out.

Edee (excitedly):  Chicken, when you go to cah-yedge (college) you will yearn how to cook, and you will yearn how to sew, and you will yearn how to shower, and how to be kind.  And how to climb a ladder, and hold your beff under water.  And how to use da potty yike a big boy!  And dere are yots of udder kids your same age and no mommies and daddies dere. And dere are classes in a lot of buildings, in Idaho!  Den you will go on a mission and grow up and go to work, dust yike daddy.   Does dat sound good, Chicken?
Chicken:  Yeah.

I'm so glad she already has this vision in mind and has the same sights for her brother.  We just got to keep it going for another 15 years...

Horse

Edee is playing with her stuffed horse.

Edee: Is Felipe a girl or a boy?
Me: A boy.
Daddy: I don't see any genitalia on it.
Me:  Ahem. Daddy. Okay, so there are no girl parts or boy parts on it, so it can be whatever you want.

She looks between the legs.

Edee: All boy horses are gay.

Daddy looks warily at me.

Me:  No, not all boy horses are gray.
Daddy: Thanks for translating, Mommy.

Lollipop

I gave Edee and Chicken lollipops for helping me clean up the living room.  I was really excited to see these, as I love the Tootsie Fruit Chews.

*by the way....to call them "pops", "lollies", "suckers", or just plain old "lollipops"?  I grew up with them being suckers, but I only hear them as lollies or pops out here.  I usually call them lollipops with my kids, as I'll soon illustrate*

Chicken started throwing a fit about wanting another lollipop.  I went with the good ol' distraction technique....and incidentally ended up going the extra mile.

Me:  What color was your lollipop?
Chicken: Owange!
Me:  What color was the inside?
Chicken:  Geen!
Me:  Ohhh cool!
Chicken:  I wan anudder owange one!!
Me:  Wait a minute, you never thanked Mommy for the lollipop you got.  Say 'Thank you Mommypop...' (it was a legitimate slip of the tongue). Thank you Mommypop? Ha ha! Thank you Mommypop!!!

Chicken and Edee burst out laughing.  I was feeling a bit grumpy about the whining but had to laugh right along with them.

Edee (putting her hands on my face):  Ah ha ha, OH Mommy, you're da best!!  You  make us yaff so much some times.  Dank you Mommypop.
Me:  Ha ha ha
Edee:  Dank you Mommytoy.
Chicken: Dank you Mommytoy!
Me: Say 'Thank you, Mommybean!' (I had also given them a few jellybeans)
Edee:  Dank you Mommybean!
Chicken: Dank you Mommybean!

And so the giggling continued and all thoughts of whining for another lollipop was forgotten.  Double win.

Squished

We try to be anatomically correct when referring to body parts, I think that's important with young kids.  But we aren't consistent like we should be and use various terms...so maybe we're not doing as well in this department as I though.  At least they'll be well-rounded, right?  I think mostly that this has caused Chicken some confusion.

Chicken:  WAAAH!  My peener hurts!
Me:  What?
Chicken:  My peener!  It 'quished!
Daddy:  SHHH!  Mommy get him to be quiet!
Chicken:  My peener quished in my diaper!!
Me:   Oh.  Ok.  Shh shh......let's fix your diaper.....

Of course it had to be smack in the middle of a quiet church meeting when this outburst occurred.

Tushie

Edee has a problem keeping her pants up.  We've tried many different kids of pants and have just kind of settled on wearing dresses more often.

One day as she was walking by with pants hanging low, I picked her up by her pants waist.

Me:  Pull up dem pants, girl!
Edee:  Awwww Mom!  You gave me a tushie!!
Me:  I gave you a tushie??
Edee:  Yeah!!
Me:  I gave you a bum??
Edee:  No you gave me the when my underwear id IN my bum!
Me:  You must mean a wedgie.
Edee: Ha ha ha ha, oh wight.   A wedgie. Ha ha ha.

As long as she knows and understands these things before kindergarten, we're good.

Fungi

We always seem to have the most interesting family discussions driving to church.  Today's initial topic: Fungi.

Edee:  Why are dere mushrooms?
Me:  They are a fungus.  They aren't plants, but the mushrooms grow kind of like plants.
Edee:  Why aren't they plants?
Me:  They are different...plants have different parts than fungi.  A lot of fungi help things decompose.  Like they eat dead trees and plants and animals and stuff.  To break it down so it can turn into dirt.
Edee:  Dey eat trees and animals? Why do dey do dat?
Me:  It.....well....okay, hmmmm..... you know how Simba's daddy tells him about the circle of life?  He tells them, "that the antelope eat the grass, and we eat the antelope, and when we die our bodies become the grass."  Remember that?  Then the antelope will eat the grass again, and the lions will eat the antelope, and when the lions die, fungi will help the body decompose and turn into grass.
Chicken:  Wa!  Mommy I don wan to be gass!!
Daddy:  You won't have to worry about that. If you die we'll probably put you in a box.
Me:  Daddy!!
Chicken:  WAAAAAA!!!!  (head down, *wimper, wimper*)
Me (to Daddy):  I cannot believe you just said that!
Daddy:  (laughs)
Chicken: (starting to cry louder)
Me:  Don't worry Chicken, you don't have to worry about that.....for a long time.....shh shh, you're okay.
Daddy:  (still laughing)
Chicken:  I don't want to be dead!
Me:  You are not going to die!.... well....you aren't going to die anytime soon....it's not anything you need to worry about right now!  Your spirit will go up to heaven so you don't have to worry about it and you'll be resurrected..... Daddy--stop laughing, it's not funny, he's devastated right now.  Ugh, why don't we just get a fail grade for parenting already and be done with it already!!?

The bad news is that Chicken may traumatized about death now, but the good news is that this just heightened Edee's interest in fungi.  If that can be considered good news....

At least we have a good family home evening topic picked out for tomorrow already: The Plan of Salvation :)

Cute...

Getting ready for the day.

Edee:  Mommy, do I look cute?
Me:  Yes, you look cute.
Edee:  And den everyone will see me and say, "Oh dat girl is so cute".
Me:  Uh....well....okay, so it's fun to look cute, but that's not what's important.  It's more important to be kind and loving and be like Jesus....

Later that day we are heading on a train downtown.  I see Edee looking out the window....only to notice she's admiring her own reflection in the window.  Little head tosses and batting eyelashes and all.

How did we get to this point, and how do we make it stop?

Love

Bedtime snuggling with Chicken--

Chicken:  Mommy, I luff you a yot of many times.
Me:  I love you a lot of many times too.  What would I do without my Chicken?
Chicken:  Get on a tain (train).  I would get on a geen (green) tain by my yelf (self).  And den I would go up.  Den I would say, 'Mommy, come wiff me.'
Me:  Oh, okay.  I would come with you.

I definitely feel the love from my little guy.  

Happy Birthday America

We started celebrating the Fourth of July a couple days early since we have a long weekend. We went to see fireworks on the 2nd (which was terrifying for two year old Chicken--who had his hands tightly clamped over his ears, mouth and eyes shut).  He hopped up when it was over and clapped his hands, yelling "Happy Birthday America!" with the rest of us, more happy that it was over than anything.

This morning (the 3rd) I made the kids American Flag pancakes--nothing fancy--leftover pancakes from the fridge with blueberries, strawberries, and bananas "striped" on it.

As I'm taking a picture:

Me:  Chicken, say "Happy Birthday America!!"
Chicken:  Happy Bur-day Ame-wica!
Me (as I set down my phone):  Good job!
Chicken:  Wait!  I wan to say it to him!!
Me:  No....no one is on the phone.  America isn't a person!
Chicken: But I wan to say it to him!  He be sad!!!
Edee:  Ha ha ha!!  Ha ha Chicken.....why isn't America a person?

I try to give the simplest explanation I could, which of course ended up being complicated and lengthy instead.

Me:  .....I know it's hard to understand.  You'll understand at some point.
Edee:  Okay.....um.   Mom,  I don't understand yet.
Me:  I meant sometime when you're older.

So much confusion in the world!  But really, what do they care?  They get fireworks and treats and that's what really matters when you are two and four.

Disaster

Edee and I have a tradition where we paint our toenails red, white, and blue for the 4th of July.  This year, after Edee's insistence, I let her paint her nails by herself.  She's four and a half.  You can imagine how it went.  I stifled the annoyed feeling, laughed instead and grabbed my phone to take a picture.

Me:  Hold still Edee, I want to get a picture.

Edee:  Awwww Mom!!  No!! It is a disaster!!!

Me:  Ha, what?  A disaster?  Did I say that?

Edee:  No, I did.

Me:  No, I know you did, but did I just say it before you?

Edee:  No.  I just said it.

Me:  Ha ha okay.  Maybe it is a little bit of a disaster.

--pause-

Edee:  What's a disaster?

Ha ha.  Totally worth the nail polish remover and hassle.