Disciples

Evan often outsmarts me with his vast knowledge of everything he's ever seen or heard (or encountered in any other way) in life. He's like his daddy that way, and it bothers me when his daddy does it too.

Occasionally, Evan decides to use his skill at relating different sets of knowledge to his advantage to mess with me. At the age of five, it's still cute and funny. In another ten years, the story might be different. But, for now, it's cute.

Last night at bedtime, I was singing the disciples song to Evan and Kendra. Or I was trying to. But Kendra kept saying she wanted to sing it by herself the first time. Then she got stuck halfway through the list of disciples. I was trying to pick up where she left off and finally had to start over on my own. Evan, the ever-helpful one, whispers in my ear as I get to Thomas, "it's Thomas the train engine."

I chuckle and finish the song. I then whisper back to him, "I'm pretty sure Jesus did not have a train as a disciple."

To which he whispers his response, "but there was a James too."

And, really, how do you argue with that logic?

(The answer to how you argue with that logic is that you quickly start singing the disciple song in your head again, while thinking of all the Thomas characters you can, to see how much overlap there is between the worlds of Thomas-the-train and Thomas-the-disciple.)

Only two? Part two

Tonight, Laura and Chad were playing on the floor after Evan and Kendra were in bed. Laura looks out the window and sees that it's starting to get dark. She looks at Chad and me and informs us very seriously, "It's paaaast bedtime."

Then a couple of minutes later, I hear her tell Chad, "No, that's not right." I'm not sure what they were playing, but apparently something was awry.

Before putting her to bed, I had a squash snack with her (pureed butternut squash). When we went in to her room for bedtime, she said something about her squash snack. I asked her how it was. Did she answer with a simple "good"? No, of course not. Her answer was, "It was very yum."

To my 2-year-old Laura, I hope you know that I'm not laughing at you when you talk, but that I'm merely laughing in amazement at how you express yourself. You are a wonderful talker, and you fill my days with smiles.

Why kids need chiropractic

Kendra: I think I can be your stepstool.
Evan: You're not a very good stepstool.
[Evan and Kendra come out of play tent.]
Mommy: Evan, were you standing on Kendra?
Evan (with a deer-in-the-headlights look): Well ... she said she could be my stepstool.

And that is reason #412 why kids need chiropractic.

Are you sure you're only two?

Laura sings lately. A lot. Real songs. Like Row, Row, Row Your Boat and Jesus Loves Me and the alphabet. She also sings Laura songs. Like tonight when she was singing "Is not your birthday. Is my birthday. Is not your birthday. Is my birthday."

She also has a vocabulary that's larger than she is. I'm not sure Evan knew "hot" yet when he was two. Kendra maybe said "hot" when something was hot. Laura says "That's really, really hot!" when she sees steam coming from her food.

And she has total recall of movies. Much like her daddy and older brother. For those of you who have seen Bob's Big Break (a short that's based on the Monsters vs. Aliens), you'll understand the hilarity when wee little 2-year-old Laura comes running into a room and says, "Mwah ha ha! Birthday ever!"

She also corrects vocabulary. Like just now as I'm typing this while she's using the couch inappropriately and Chad says "No bouncing on the couch" and Laura replies with "Not jumping. I bouncing!"

Seriously, Laura, are you sure you're only two?

Whoa, that is an emergency

Evan is playing that he's a cop. He has a play cell phone in his shirt pocket.

Evan: Bbbbring, bbbbring. Yeah, what's going on? Yeah, what's going on? There's a video game stuck in a mining dump truck? Whoa, that is an emergency! Ok, we need to find Stinky Pete. [Mommy forgets some of what Evan said.] We need to find Stinky Pete's stinky list; that will help us. Or, we need to find what road he's on. Oh! He's on Road 4? Ok! He's on Road 4! Let's go!

New alphabet

Laura is looking at a new alphabet book. She's saying "A B C D ..." Kendra is correcting her that she should be reading it as "A is for alligator, B is for bear ..." So Laura tried very hard and changed to reading it like this: "B for is elephant. B for is fish." Close, Laura, very very close.

Vroom

During the last few weeks when Kendra runs, she says "vroom". Not loudly. Not in a whisper. Just quietly as she runs as fast as she can (in the house around furniture and siblings). "Vroom."

Seriously cute.

Gargle

Tonight, one of my kids learned to gargle.

Tonight, my youngest kid learned to gargle.

Tonight, my youngest daughter learned to gargle.

Tonight, my youngest daughter learned to gargle with breast milk.

I am so proud. This must go in her baby book right along with all the other "firsts". First tooth, first step, first word, first gargle with breast milk. It's the little milestones that make life interesting.