Me: "Leif, you scare the bejesus out of me sometimes!"
Leif: "You have Jesus's in you that are leaving?"
Me: "No, bejesus."
Leif: "What is that?"
Me: "Ummm... ummm... ummm..."
Leif: "Is it like your taste buds?"
Me: "Ok sure, like your taste buds."
Leif: "I am going to scare your taste buds out of you!!"
Showing posts with label Leif sayings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leif sayings. Show all posts
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Etiquette
Me: "Leif this afternoon when Auntie Melissa gave you a gift, I wasn't happy with the way you said, 'oh, I hope it is a Wii game!' That is impolite and can make the other person feel bad."
Leif: (Looking at me blankly.) "But I liked the book a lot mom!"
Me: "I know. But ok, think of it this way, if you drew me a special picture and wrapped it up and gave it to me because you knew I would like it and I said, 'oh, I hope it is a diamond ring!' How would you feel?"
Leif: "Bad."
Me: "See what I mean. You can hurt someone's feelings by assuming the gift is something that it isn't."
Leif: "But what if it was a drawing of a diamond ring?"
Sigh.
Leif"
Leif: (Looking at me blankly.) "But I liked the book a lot mom!"
Me: "I know. But ok, think of it this way, if you drew me a special picture and wrapped it up and gave it to me because you knew I would like it and I said, 'oh, I hope it is a diamond ring!' How would you feel?"
Leif: "Bad."
Me: "See what I mean. You can hurt someone's feelings by assuming the gift is something that it isn't."
Leif: "But what if it was a drawing of a diamond ring?"
Sigh.
Leif"
Thursday, July 07, 2011
The perils of a child's increased awareness of his surroundings...
The setting: Leif and I in some skuzzy male/female gas station bathroom on the way back from the coast. Normally I let him go in by himself, but I hesitated here and went in with him.
Leif: “Look mom, you can buy stuff in here!” (Pointing to the questionable dispenser on the wall.)
Me: “Yep.”
Leif: “It costs 50 cents mom.”
Me: “Yep.”
Leif: “It looks like it is a fun game mom, see it says ‘Fun’ on it!”
Me: “Oh yeah, I bet it is a lot of fun.”
Leif: “Do you have 50 cents mom? I want one of those games.”
Me: “No.”
Leif: “But it says it is fun mom.”
Me: “Those are just for adults.”
Leif: “Why would they put fun games to buy in the bathrooms that are just for adults mom? That just doesn’t make sense.”
Me: “Nope, it doesn’t make any sense at all, you are right. Let’s hurry and go.”
Leif: “Look mom, you can buy stuff in here!” (Pointing to the questionable dispenser on the wall.)
Me: “Yep.”
Leif: “It costs 50 cents mom.”
Me: “Yep.”
Leif: “It looks like it is a fun game mom, see it says ‘Fun’ on it!”
Me: “Oh yeah, I bet it is a lot of fun.”
Leif: “Do you have 50 cents mom? I want one of those games.”
Me: “No.”
Leif: “But it says it is fun mom.”
Me: “Those are just for adults.”
Leif: “Why would they put fun games to buy in the bathrooms that are just for adults mom? That just doesn’t make sense.”
Me: “Nope, it doesn’t make any sense at all, you are right. Let’s hurry and go.”
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Putting One Foot In Front Of The Other
I haven’t done a decent update in awhile. I have a huge list of blog topics, but a lack of time to actually write them. And for me it is kind of like a snowball effect. It starts out little, and then as time goes on the snowball gets bigger and bigger as it threatens to run me over. Maybe I have been run over. In some effort to start new after being run over, I will try and get caught up, let's see how I do.
Major Purchase:
We bought a travel trailer in early May. AB and I love camping, we both grew up camping, we want our kids to enjoy camping. But I have reached a point where a dome tent with two kids and two dogs on an air mattress just takes all pleasure out of it. Over the last few years we have identified what exactly we want in a trailer and this spring we surprised ourselves and pulled the trigger. We had been looking for used 4-season bunkhouses and knew what was reasonable to pay for them. Last fall we negotiated on a used unit, but gave up when they failed to negotiate more than $500 lower off the sticker price. This spring we bought a new one for that same price.
We have taken the trailer out twice, and the kids love it. We are still learning it, but after our first longer trip (3 nights this past Memorial Day weekend) we have it pretty well figured out. And I am even getting good with my handsigns. AB is even better at interpreting my handsigns.
We weren’t actually quite where we wanted to be financially before buying it. But in the last year I have given a lot of thought to what living means. I look at my mom’s life and while she had a good life, I look at the things left undone. The things she hoped to accomplish. No one knows our fate. But I have embraced living more in the last year. Taking off and doing the things we want to do instead of just talk about them. I want my kids to love the outdoors and to tramp around the forests like my sister and I did as kids as well as AB and his family did, and have those experiences that we both remember so fondly. I have to make that happen. Purchasing the trailer is making that happen for us.
And my 16 year old self is so laughing at me for “RV’ing”.
Leif:
Leif is wrapping up his last year at the Montessori school he has been at since he was one year old. 6 years here, the end of a legacy of sorts. Wah. My baby Is growing up.
Leif is so very excited to move on to bigger and better things, though he is so very tentative. He really isn't sure about this whole riding the bus without me thing. He will be in public first grade this coming fall. This summer he is looking forward to some science camps at the local branch university and Adventure camp through our health club.
Leif is such a sweet, loving, tender hearted little boy. Poor kid doesn’t understand girls at all and is constantly confounded by them. He surprises me daily with the things he knows and remembers.
The other day Leif and one of his friends was playing at the park as Skadi practiced TBall. I looked over and saw him crawling up the outside of the slide tube. When I went over to him I asked him if that was very safe. He thought for a bit and then replied, “No, but it was impressive.”
We opened a 529 account for the kids awhile back and because I am a geek I maintain a spreadsheet that forecasts the funds growth on a quarterly basis. I set it up and forecasted out and then calculated the year that Leif will go to college. When I realized that I didn’t have to scroll down 3 pages to get to that year it made me a bit ill. My baby is growing up. College is only one Excel page view of quarters away! GAH!
Skadi:
Oh Skadi Skadi Skadi. My sweet little girl… sometimes. The other time she is something else.
We are struggling with Skadi in preschool, out of preschool, through the night… What can I say? It’s darn good that she is as cute as she is! I contemplated last week pulling her out of the Montessori preschool she has been at for three years now. I was *this* close to pulling the trigger. Then AB went in and talked with the teachers a bit and we decided to sit in the holding pattern for a bit. See how things go through the summer.
I talk and talk to that child.
“You had fun on your McDonalds field trip, right?” (She agrees.) “If you don’t behave you will continue to lose field trips and won’t be able to go do these fun things.” (She agrees to be good.)
She is a smart girl. She is pretty mouthy – the other day threats looming that she was bordering upon losing the “Beach Party Day” at school she dared to tell her teachers they could go ahead and take away the privilege from her, she didn’t care, because she planned to tell her mommy to keep her home and we would have our own party and not invite them, so there.
Sigh.
And no, that is so not happening.
She is quick on her feet with her words, but reminds me a lot of my grandmother when she talks, “betend” is “pretend”. “Yesternight” is last night. “Two-head” is still forehead.
This weekend while camping I went over and started poking (or in AB’s words, “fiddling”) with the campfire. My husband is a bit particular about his campfires and with the wet weather this weekend, he had his work cut out for him. Skadi sees me and said, “"Mom, hurry up fiddling with the fire before daddy gets back and sees you!"
The other day Skadi came out of the bathroom and announced, “Mom, I think I am finally old enough to learn how to pee like a boy.”
And then there are days unlike the start of this section where I so agree with her and know she is my daughter, “Leif: "I want to listen to Les Miserables, the Battle Scene in Act 2."
Skadi: "I want to listen to Dancing Queen."
AB:
AB recently had the joy of jury duty. I have always wanted to serve on a jury panel. Yes, seriously. My friends and coworkers look at me like I am nuts when I say this. But for some reason I would like to see first hand our legal system in action. After AB was on a jury panel for a week he can unequivocally say that there is little "action" and that he hopes to never have to rely on our judicial system.
Anyways, I was still jealous. He actually got picked after offering up every reason why he shouldn’t… “I know the prosecutor”, “I work at the same place as the defendant and he looks familiar to me”, “I don’t want to serve, but I know it is my civil duty” (among a group of people who said they did want to serve nonetheless)… but alas he was picked and got to hear abuse stories that still make him cringe. Yeah, maybe I don't want to serve on a jury... I have a friend that served on one about a farmer stealing another one's goats - and a friend's wife who served on a jury about poaching of eagles... nope, AB got a real nasty one.
Work:
My work. Blah.
It’s hard to get very enthused about it when people around me are struggling to find enough work to prevent themselves from being laid off. I am normally in a position to help people out a bit, but this FY, not so. I don’t have much buffer myself. I have even set up an Excel sheet to plan out my upcoming work to make sure I can cover myself. I may be embracing 3-day weekends this summer more than I have in the past.
One of my topics on my list to blog about is the whole “best friend” at work thing. We do these polls that estimate our happiness as a group with our place of employment. Historically my group scores high, which is pretty cool. One of the questions on the poll asks if you have a best friend at work. For years I have been in a position to answer yes to that simply because one of my best friends works here, though I have never had the occasion to work with her. The fact still remains that I have a best friend at work.
In the last few months I have actually had occasion to fully embrace the notion of having a best friend at work in the context of the question. What they want to know is do you have someone you work with that you can go and talk to about what is going on. Sure my good friend down in the other building, who I can’t actually talk to about what I do on a daily basis qualifies to a certain degree. As do the couple of women in my hallway who I can go and talk about daycare or restaurants or hotels, but once again have never really actually worked with them. In the last year I have found my best friends at work… two unassuming guys I work with regularly that I don’t think anyone would really peg them as my “best friends”. But the last 6 months or so they have heard me whine, bitch, cry and complain – and I have heard it from them too. Ok, so they don’t cry. And I only almost cried once.
It’s a big step for me actually. I work on a lot of varied projects with lots of different people and rarely a single core group as so many people do. I get good reviews from people and word of mouth (I believe) is why I am not short on work right now when so many people I know are. I have gotten to know a lot of different people and get called up to do lots of varied projects. I have talked with the two about teaming more regularly and we have a few concepts in the pipeline. I enjoy working with them, appreciate their strong work ethics and we work well as a team. What more could you ask for?
There is a lot of tension here as work is becoming more scarce. Project work has become competitive when jobs are suddenly at stake. While I am funded right now, it is the end of the fiscal year that scares the daylights out of me. Most of my “little” projects wrap up between now and then due to either lack of funding or meeting our completion date. I have a big proposal that was sent out to my least favorite client this morning. One of the guys I wrote the proposal with told me last week that the program manager was already telling him congratulations on it. So I am crossing my fingers that project comes through, though I fully expect another CR and thus actual money won’t arrive until well into FY12 I am sure.
Work… eh, it’s ok. But AB and I have started talking… wonder what else is out there? Where in the world could we wander to? Do we want to live here forever and ever?
Goals:
Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Yes typically speaking about this time of year my goals start going by the wayside. Summer is just hard to maintain that “do the work around the house” attitude when we have so much we are doing outside and the days are long.
As of today though the quilt is very nearly ready to haul down to the long arm to be quilted. That will be my big checkmark.
AB cleaned the garage pretty well… I intended to help. And I intended to get down and dirty by digging out every last little remnant and adorning the garage with plastic bins and random storage notions.
Well the garage is clean and that is that. My motivation to go out there and work at it more is nill. Not when I have my MIL coming for a visit, a trailer that needs to be cleaned and mopped for the next Father’s Day trip and laundry stacked up to the ceiling upstairs.
June optional goals… if I have time I plan to:
June goal #1 – Think about the outdoor patio kitchen and get some drawings with ideas down on paper.
June goal #2 – detangle my jewelry and figure out something for actual storage of bling that I use on a regular basis.
Major Purchase:
We bought a travel trailer in early May. AB and I love camping, we both grew up camping, we want our kids to enjoy camping. But I have reached a point where a dome tent with two kids and two dogs on an air mattress just takes all pleasure out of it. Over the last few years we have identified what exactly we want in a trailer and this spring we surprised ourselves and pulled the trigger. We had been looking for used 4-season bunkhouses and knew what was reasonable to pay for them. Last fall we negotiated on a used unit, but gave up when they failed to negotiate more than $500 lower off the sticker price. This spring we bought a new one for that same price.
We have taken the trailer out twice, and the kids love it. We are still learning it, but after our first longer trip (3 nights this past Memorial Day weekend) we have it pretty well figured out. And I am even getting good with my handsigns. AB is even better at interpreting my handsigns.
We weren’t actually quite where we wanted to be financially before buying it. But in the last year I have given a lot of thought to what living means. I look at my mom’s life and while she had a good life, I look at the things left undone. The things she hoped to accomplish. No one knows our fate. But I have embraced living more in the last year. Taking off and doing the things we want to do instead of just talk about them. I want my kids to love the outdoors and to tramp around the forests like my sister and I did as kids as well as AB and his family did, and have those experiences that we both remember so fondly. I have to make that happen. Purchasing the trailer is making that happen for us.
And my 16 year old self is so laughing at me for “RV’ing”.
Leif:
Leif is wrapping up his last year at the Montessori school he has been at since he was one year old. 6 years here, the end of a legacy of sorts. Wah. My baby Is growing up.
Leif is so very excited to move on to bigger and better things, though he is so very tentative. He really isn't sure about this whole riding the bus without me thing. He will be in public first grade this coming fall. This summer he is looking forward to some science camps at the local branch university and Adventure camp through our health club.
Leif is such a sweet, loving, tender hearted little boy. Poor kid doesn’t understand girls at all and is constantly confounded by them. He surprises me daily with the things he knows and remembers.
The other day Leif and one of his friends was playing at the park as Skadi practiced TBall. I looked over and saw him crawling up the outside of the slide tube. When I went over to him I asked him if that was very safe. He thought for a bit and then replied, “No, but it was impressive.”
We opened a 529 account for the kids awhile back and because I am a geek I maintain a spreadsheet that forecasts the funds growth on a quarterly basis. I set it up and forecasted out and then calculated the year that Leif will go to college. When I realized that I didn’t have to scroll down 3 pages to get to that year it made me a bit ill. My baby is growing up. College is only one Excel page view of quarters away! GAH!
Skadi:
Oh Skadi Skadi Skadi. My sweet little girl… sometimes. The other time she is something else.
We are struggling with Skadi in preschool, out of preschool, through the night… What can I say? It’s darn good that she is as cute as she is! I contemplated last week pulling her out of the Montessori preschool she has been at for three years now. I was *this* close to pulling the trigger. Then AB went in and talked with the teachers a bit and we decided to sit in the holding pattern for a bit. See how things go through the summer.
I talk and talk to that child.
“You had fun on your McDonalds field trip, right?” (She agrees.) “If you don’t behave you will continue to lose field trips and won’t be able to go do these fun things.” (She agrees to be good.)
She is a smart girl. She is pretty mouthy – the other day threats looming that she was bordering upon losing the “Beach Party Day” at school she dared to tell her teachers they could go ahead and take away the privilege from her, she didn’t care, because she planned to tell her mommy to keep her home and we would have our own party and not invite them, so there.
Sigh.
And no, that is so not happening.
She is quick on her feet with her words, but reminds me a lot of my grandmother when she talks, “betend” is “pretend”. “Yesternight” is last night. “Two-head” is still forehead.
This weekend while camping I went over and started poking (or in AB’s words, “fiddling”) with the campfire. My husband is a bit particular about his campfires and with the wet weather this weekend, he had his work cut out for him. Skadi sees me and said, “"Mom, hurry up fiddling with the fire before daddy gets back and sees you!"
The other day Skadi came out of the bathroom and announced, “Mom, I think I am finally old enough to learn how to pee like a boy.”
And then there are days unlike the start of this section where I so agree with her and know she is my daughter, “Leif: "I want to listen to Les Miserables, the Battle Scene in Act 2."
Skadi: "I want to listen to Dancing Queen."
AB:
AB recently had the joy of jury duty. I have always wanted to serve on a jury panel. Yes, seriously. My friends and coworkers look at me like I am nuts when I say this. But for some reason I would like to see first hand our legal system in action. After AB was on a jury panel for a week he can unequivocally say that there is little "action" and that he hopes to never have to rely on our judicial system.
Anyways, I was still jealous. He actually got picked after offering up every reason why he shouldn’t… “I know the prosecutor”, “I work at the same place as the defendant and he looks familiar to me”, “I don’t want to serve, but I know it is my civil duty” (among a group of people who said they did want to serve nonetheless)… but alas he was picked and got to hear abuse stories that still make him cringe. Yeah, maybe I don't want to serve on a jury... I have a friend that served on one about a farmer stealing another one's goats - and a friend's wife who served on a jury about poaching of eagles... nope, AB got a real nasty one.
Work:
My work. Blah.
It’s hard to get very enthused about it when people around me are struggling to find enough work to prevent themselves from being laid off. I am normally in a position to help people out a bit, but this FY, not so. I don’t have much buffer myself. I have even set up an Excel sheet to plan out my upcoming work to make sure I can cover myself. I may be embracing 3-day weekends this summer more than I have in the past.
One of my topics on my list to blog about is the whole “best friend” at work thing. We do these polls that estimate our happiness as a group with our place of employment. Historically my group scores high, which is pretty cool. One of the questions on the poll asks if you have a best friend at work. For years I have been in a position to answer yes to that simply because one of my best friends works here, though I have never had the occasion to work with her. The fact still remains that I have a best friend at work.
In the last few months I have actually had occasion to fully embrace the notion of having a best friend at work in the context of the question. What they want to know is do you have someone you work with that you can go and talk to about what is going on. Sure my good friend down in the other building, who I can’t actually talk to about what I do on a daily basis qualifies to a certain degree. As do the couple of women in my hallway who I can go and talk about daycare or restaurants or hotels, but once again have never really actually worked with them. In the last year I have found my best friends at work… two unassuming guys I work with regularly that I don’t think anyone would really peg them as my “best friends”. But the last 6 months or so they have heard me whine, bitch, cry and complain – and I have heard it from them too. Ok, so they don’t cry. And I only almost cried once.
It’s a big step for me actually. I work on a lot of varied projects with lots of different people and rarely a single core group as so many people do. I get good reviews from people and word of mouth (I believe) is why I am not short on work right now when so many people I know are. I have gotten to know a lot of different people and get called up to do lots of varied projects. I have talked with the two about teaming more regularly and we have a few concepts in the pipeline. I enjoy working with them, appreciate their strong work ethics and we work well as a team. What more could you ask for?
There is a lot of tension here as work is becoming more scarce. Project work has become competitive when jobs are suddenly at stake. While I am funded right now, it is the end of the fiscal year that scares the daylights out of me. Most of my “little” projects wrap up between now and then due to either lack of funding or meeting our completion date. I have a big proposal that was sent out to my least favorite client this morning. One of the guys I wrote the proposal with told me last week that the program manager was already telling him congratulations on it. So I am crossing my fingers that project comes through, though I fully expect another CR and thus actual money won’t arrive until well into FY12 I am sure.
Work… eh, it’s ok. But AB and I have started talking… wonder what else is out there? Where in the world could we wander to? Do we want to live here forever and ever?
Goals:
Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Yes typically speaking about this time of year my goals start going by the wayside. Summer is just hard to maintain that “do the work around the house” attitude when we have so much we are doing outside and the days are long.
As of today though the quilt is very nearly ready to haul down to the long arm to be quilted. That will be my big checkmark.
AB cleaned the garage pretty well… I intended to help. And I intended to get down and dirty by digging out every last little remnant and adorning the garage with plastic bins and random storage notions.
Well the garage is clean and that is that. My motivation to go out there and work at it more is nill. Not when I have my MIL coming for a visit, a trailer that needs to be cleaned and mopped for the next Father’s Day trip and laundry stacked up to the ceiling upstairs.
June optional goals… if I have time I plan to:
June goal #1 – Think about the outdoor patio kitchen and get some drawings with ideas down on paper.
June goal #2 – detangle my jewelry and figure out something for actual storage of bling that I use on a regular basis.
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Arranged marriages?
When I was about Leif’s age I was playing in my backyard with two of the neighbor girls, Dani and Jennifer, and the neighbor boy, Brandon. Brandon declared a rule:
“Whoever says me first, gets to marry me.”
I have never been terribly quick with my tongue and suffice to say I came in last. I stormed in crying and went to my dad explaining the situation. His reply was, “well why would you want to marry Brandon, he’s just a goofy kid from down the street?”
Brandon moved away or didn’t come around much after that, not sure which. I don’t remember what happened to him he just quit coming around shortly after that.
And I survived.
Leif seems to have a bit of a crush.
He is bound and determined that he is going to marry Niranjana, our good friends’ daughter. Trouble is that Niranjana has other plans.
“I am going to marry Ken,” she announces routinely.
At 6 years old I never thought I would see my son aiming to “break up” other kids!
“What does it mean to ‘break them up’?” I asked. He couldn’t possibly understand dating and boyfriend and girlfriend, could he?
“It means I don’t want them to get married, I want to break them up so they don’t get married,” he replied.
I have listed off all the reasons in the world why we just don’t need to worry about this right now.
… “but Niranjana’s mom says she can’t get married until she goes to college and I think that is a good idea too”…
… “there are so many other people out there, you will meet other people, other girls you might want to marry”…
… “it is a long time till you need to worry about who you will marry”…
(Leif replied the other day that this past year has gone by faster than the others he remembers, so he is going to need to worry about it sooner than we all thought… he has no idea how right he is.)
Nothing helps.
I went and picked Leif up the other day and the kids were all in the same room. Niranjana and Ken were coloring and Niranjana was leading the conversation.
“See Ken is from China and I am from India and so that makes us a perfect match!” (Chuckled to myself at this line of reasoning.)
Leif asked me the other day if he colored his hair black if I thought Niranjana might want to marry him.
Maybe I was getting a bit tired of this obsession. I broke loose and started on the long conversation about why would you want to marry a person who doesn’t want to marry you? Everyone deserves to marry someone who thinks that they are their perfect match regardless of hair color or anything else. Then I added – because I know that what a mom thinks bears heavily on her son’s mind (ha ha ha) – “Leif, I love your strawberry blonde hair and if you ever color it black it would make me so sad.”
He gave up the obsession for a day.
Finally yesterday a line of reasoning that might make sense to Leif entered. And it came from Niranjana.
“Niranjana says that we CAN’T marry each other because we are cousins!” he announced.
I could try and clarify… then I thought wiser of this and decided I would just take this for now.
“Whoever says me first, gets to marry me.”
I have never been terribly quick with my tongue and suffice to say I came in last. I stormed in crying and went to my dad explaining the situation. His reply was, “well why would you want to marry Brandon, he’s just a goofy kid from down the street?”
Brandon moved away or didn’t come around much after that, not sure which. I don’t remember what happened to him he just quit coming around shortly after that.
And I survived.
Leif seems to have a bit of a crush.
He is bound and determined that he is going to marry Niranjana, our good friends’ daughter. Trouble is that Niranjana has other plans.
“I am going to marry Ken,” she announces routinely.
At 6 years old I never thought I would see my son aiming to “break up” other kids!
“What does it mean to ‘break them up’?” I asked. He couldn’t possibly understand dating and boyfriend and girlfriend, could he?
“It means I don’t want them to get married, I want to break them up so they don’t get married,” he replied.
I have listed off all the reasons in the world why we just don’t need to worry about this right now.
… “but Niranjana’s mom says she can’t get married until she goes to college and I think that is a good idea too”…
… “there are so many other people out there, you will meet other people, other girls you might want to marry”…
… “it is a long time till you need to worry about who you will marry”…
(Leif replied the other day that this past year has gone by faster than the others he remembers, so he is going to need to worry about it sooner than we all thought… he has no idea how right he is.)
Nothing helps.
I went and picked Leif up the other day and the kids were all in the same room. Niranjana and Ken were coloring and Niranjana was leading the conversation.
“See Ken is from China and I am from India and so that makes us a perfect match!” (Chuckled to myself at this line of reasoning.)
Leif asked me the other day if he colored his hair black if I thought Niranjana might want to marry him.
Maybe I was getting a bit tired of this obsession. I broke loose and started on the long conversation about why would you want to marry a person who doesn’t want to marry you? Everyone deserves to marry someone who thinks that they are their perfect match regardless of hair color or anything else. Then I added – because I know that what a mom thinks bears heavily on her son’s mind (ha ha ha) – “Leif, I love your strawberry blonde hair and if you ever color it black it would make me so sad.”
He gave up the obsession for a day.
Finally yesterday a line of reasoning that might make sense to Leif entered. And it came from Niranjana.
“Niranjana says that we CAN’T marry each other because we are cousins!” he announced.
I could try and clarify… then I thought wiser of this and decided I would just take this for now.
Monday, March 07, 2011
Things I will never understand...
Why my son will eat his boogers, but refuses to taste an olive, or a bean, or allow his food to touch, or drink a carbonated beverage.
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Why my daughter shrieks in pain when anyone looks at her and falls on the floor faint with utter pain when someone brushes by her or the cat looks at her. But she will clip a clothespin on her own earlobe and then say simply, "oh mommy, that hurt!" (Giggle, giggle, giggle!)
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How everything in the world that Skadi ever does is an "ansident", but cannot accept that anything done to her might also be. "Mommy, I ansidentally hit my brother on the head with my doll while he was watching TV!"
--------
Why my daughter shrieks in pain when anyone looks at her and falls on the floor faint with utter pain when someone brushes by her or the cat looks at her. But she will clip a clothespin on her own earlobe and then say simply, "oh mommy, that hurt!" (Giggle, giggle, giggle!)
--------
How everything in the world that Skadi ever does is an "ansident", but cannot accept that anything done to her might also be. "Mommy, I ansidentally hit my brother on the head with my doll while he was watching TV!"
Thursday, February 24, 2011
It's good my kids make me laugh...
Me putting Skadi to bed:
Skadi: "Mom, I need a song."
Me: "Never smile at a croco-"
Skadi: "No mom, I need a song-"
Me: "Twinkle twinkle little-"
Skadi: "No MOM! I need a song from daddy, go get him please."
---------
Me: "Skadi, why does the wind blow?"
Skadi: "Because it is rude that way."
----------
Me: "Where does snow come from?"
Skadi: "From the clouds."
Leif: "No Skadi it comes from little drops of water in the sky that dry out and turn to snow."
-----------
Skadi: "Mommy, can we give me to Niranjana since she doesn't have a sister?"
Me: "Well if you were Niranjana's sister that means you wouldn't be my little girl anymore, you would be Auntie Melissa's little girl."
Skadi: "That's ok, I like Auntie Melissa."
Me: (Sob.)
------------
Me: "Skadi why is the sky blue?"
Skadi: "Because it is supposed to be."
Me: "Leif, why is the grass green?"
Leif: "Because that means it is healthy."
Me: "Well why is it brown now?"
Leif: "Because it hasn't rained in a long time."
Me: "Does that mean it isn't healthy."
Leif: (Sighing) "Mom, it means it is dormant."
-----------
Leif: "Mom, I want to read 'The Lion, The Witch and the Warthog'."
Me: "I think you mean 'The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe'."
Leif: "No, I mean warthog, why would it be wardrobe?"
-----------
Leif: "I have to have my snow gear today!"
Me: "Well it didn't really snow much, there's barely any out there."
Leif: "Well Ms. M said that if we brought our snow gear we could have a snowball fight!"
Me: "But there isn't enough snow for a snowball fight?"
Leif: "Well then why would she say we could have a snowball fight?"
------------
Me: "Skadi where were you before you were in my tummy?"
Skadi: "North America."
Me: "What were you doing?"
Skadi: "Just playing dolls and stuff."
Leif: "Mom, babies come from EITHER places or tummies."
Me: "No, all babies come from tummies."
Leif: "No mom, you are wrong, some come from places."
Me: "What do you mean?"
Leif: "Well we came from your tummy, but Niranjana came from India and that is a place."
Me: (Still haven't continued this conversation.)
-----------
Me: "Skadi how are clouds made?"
Skadi: "By God."
------------
Me: "Skadi how do bushes grow?"
Skadi: "Up."
Leif: "From the ground Skadi, say from the ground, they grow from the ground, it is a trick question."
------------
Me: "Skadi why is the grass green?"
Skadi: "Because it is supposed to be."
Me: "Leif, why do the trees have leaves?"
Leif: "Because the tree sucks up water and water makes the leaves and the leaves catch more water and make more leaves and more leaves."
Me: "Sounds like you have a pretty firm grasp of science."
Leif: "Yeah, but I want to be a computer engineer spy who works for the CIA mom, I don't want to work with you anymore."
Skadi: "Mom, I need a song."
Me: "Never smile at a croco-"
Skadi: "No mom, I need a song-"
Me: "Twinkle twinkle little-"
Skadi: "No MOM! I need a song from daddy, go get him please."
---------
Me: "Skadi, why does the wind blow?"
Skadi: "Because it is rude that way."
----------
Me: "Where does snow come from?"
Skadi: "From the clouds."
Leif: "No Skadi it comes from little drops of water in the sky that dry out and turn to snow."
-----------
Skadi: "Mommy, can we give me to Niranjana since she doesn't have a sister?"
Me: "Well if you were Niranjana's sister that means you wouldn't be my little girl anymore, you would be Auntie Melissa's little girl."
Skadi: "That's ok, I like Auntie Melissa."
Me: (Sob.)
------------
Me: "Skadi why is the sky blue?"
Skadi: "Because it is supposed to be."
Me: "Leif, why is the grass green?"
Leif: "Because that means it is healthy."
Me: "Well why is it brown now?"
Leif: "Because it hasn't rained in a long time."
Me: "Does that mean it isn't healthy."
Leif: (Sighing) "Mom, it means it is dormant."
-----------
Leif: "Mom, I want to read 'The Lion, The Witch and the Warthog'."
Me: "I think you mean 'The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe'."
Leif: "No, I mean warthog, why would it be wardrobe?"
-----------
Leif: "I have to have my snow gear today!"
Me: "Well it didn't really snow much, there's barely any out there."
Leif: "Well Ms. M said that if we brought our snow gear we could have a snowball fight!"
Me: "But there isn't enough snow for a snowball fight?"
Leif: "Well then why would she say we could have a snowball fight?"
------------
Me: "Skadi where were you before you were in my tummy?"
Skadi: "North America."
Me: "What were you doing?"
Skadi: "Just playing dolls and stuff."
Leif: "Mom, babies come from EITHER places or tummies."
Me: "No, all babies come from tummies."
Leif: "No mom, you are wrong, some come from places."
Me: "What do you mean?"
Leif: "Well we came from your tummy, but Niranjana came from India and that is a place."
Me: (Still haven't continued this conversation.)
-----------
Me: "Skadi how are clouds made?"
Skadi: "By God."
------------
Me: "Skadi how do bushes grow?"
Skadi: "Up."
Leif: "From the ground Skadi, say from the ground, they grow from the ground, it is a trick question."
------------
Me: "Skadi why is the grass green?"
Skadi: "Because it is supposed to be."
Me: "Leif, why do the trees have leaves?"
Leif: "Because the tree sucks up water and water makes the leaves and the leaves catch more water and make more leaves and more leaves."
Me: "Sounds like you have a pretty firm grasp of science."
Leif: "Yeah, but I want to be a computer engineer spy who works for the CIA mom, I don't want to work with you anymore."
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Kid-isms
Skadi-ism #1
“Ok parents,” she says.
We are “parents”.
We aren’t “mom and dad” or “mommy and daddy”.
Nope.
“Parents.”
“Parents, I want to know if you would like your children to sing you a song?”
“Parents, you should go in the other room and not look over here.”
“Parents, can I have a snack?”
---------------------
At a restaurant waiting for food. The kids have their complimentary crayons and placemat. Skadi is coloring away. Leif is writing words. He prints “fo” on his placemat.
AB: “That’s not a word.”
(I know where this is going. Leif is always writing fo as opposed to “of”.)
Leif: “Yes it is daddy.”
AB: “No it isn’t, it says fo. Fo isn’t a word.”
Leif (becoming insistent): “Yes daddy, it is a word!”
AB: “Ok, use it in a sentence.”
Leif: “Someone who isn’t a SuperHero friend is a foe!”
AB: (Silence.)
Me: “Take that daddy!”
----------------
Skadi has a knack for spinning yarns. She gets on a roll and it just doesn't stop.
Leif asked me what my name was before I got married and I told him my maiden name.
Skadi: "My name before I was in mommy's tummy was Vanya and I was a person who helped other people and made sure they were ok and I did good at my job. Then something happened and I don't know what it was and I was in my mommy's tummy."
Me: "Okaaaaaayyyyy..."
Leif: "Before I was in mommy's tummy, she was in her mommy's tummy and I was still in her tummy and all people are in tummys now."
Me: "Wow, this is deep." (Change subject fast.)
“Ok parents,” she says.
We are “parents”.
We aren’t “mom and dad” or “mommy and daddy”.
Nope.
“Parents.”
“Parents, I want to know if you would like your children to sing you a song?”
“Parents, you should go in the other room and not look over here.”
“Parents, can I have a snack?”
---------------------
At a restaurant waiting for food. The kids have their complimentary crayons and placemat. Skadi is coloring away. Leif is writing words. He prints “fo” on his placemat.
AB: “That’s not a word.”
(I know where this is going. Leif is always writing fo as opposed to “of”.)
Leif: “Yes it is daddy.”
AB: “No it isn’t, it says fo. Fo isn’t a word.”
Leif (becoming insistent): “Yes daddy, it is a word!”
AB: “Ok, use it in a sentence.”
Leif: “Someone who isn’t a SuperHero friend is a foe!”
AB: (Silence.)
Me: “Take that daddy!”
----------------
Skadi has a knack for spinning yarns. She gets on a roll and it just doesn't stop.
Leif asked me what my name was before I got married and I told him my maiden name.
Skadi: "My name before I was in mommy's tummy was Vanya and I was a person who helped other people and made sure they were ok and I did good at my job. Then something happened and I don't know what it was and I was in my mommy's tummy."
Me: "Okaaaaaayyyyy..."
Leif: "Before I was in mommy's tummy, she was in her mommy's tummy and I was still in her tummy and all people are in tummys now."
Me: "Wow, this is deep." (Change subject fast.)
Sunday, January 09, 2011
My husband, the beggar
We were in Costco on Saturday and AB had gone to fetch food for the kids to eat in the cart on the run. We shop, they eat. Works out great.
We are nearly halfway through the store - the VERY packed store, mind you - and I say to the kids, "I wonder where your dad is?"
Leif: "He is probably up at the front of the store begging for money," he replies matter of factly.
Me: "What?" I am positive I didn't hear him right.
Leif: "I bet he is begging for money again."
Me: "What are you talking about?" (Stifling the laughter and confusion.)
Leif: "He begged for money a few weeks ago. He is probably doing this again."
Mind you, we are in a very busy store and it isn't like Leif is whispering this. Nope, he is announcing it to the entire store. And it was no use convincing him he was mistaken, so I dropped it.
Later that evening I told AB about the comments and he (in between laughter and confusion) called Leif in to explain.
Leif: "You remember daddy, it was a few weeks ago, but you said, 'give me some money' and the lady gave you some money and there were chickens squaking too."
AB: "WHAT? What in the THE WORLD are you talking about?"
Leif: "Dad, you were being a beggar. You told the woman to give you money and she did and there were chickens."
AB: "Was this a dream? This had to be a dream."
Leif: (Getting annoyed.) "No dad, you remember! It was not a dream, you begged for money the other day!"
AB: "Wait a second... was this when we went to the store and I bought a candybar and asked for money back?"
AB does this. He doesn't like to drive all the way to the BofA ATM and doesn't want to pay $2 to use a nonbank ATM. So he goes into the grocery store, buys something in the checkstand and gets his cash.
Leif: "You asked the woman for money and she gave it to you! You were begging for money dad."
AB: (Huge sigh.) "No, that isn't really what happened."
No telling what daycare thinks of us.
(Oh and we haven't figured out the squeaky chicken aspect yet.)
We are nearly halfway through the store - the VERY packed store, mind you - and I say to the kids, "I wonder where your dad is?"
Leif: "He is probably up at the front of the store begging for money," he replies matter of factly.
Me: "What?" I am positive I didn't hear him right.
Leif: "I bet he is begging for money again."
Me: "What are you talking about?" (Stifling the laughter and confusion.)
Leif: "He begged for money a few weeks ago. He is probably doing this again."
Mind you, we are in a very busy store and it isn't like Leif is whispering this. Nope, he is announcing it to the entire store. And it was no use convincing him he was mistaken, so I dropped it.
Later that evening I told AB about the comments and he (in between laughter and confusion) called Leif in to explain.
Leif: "You remember daddy, it was a few weeks ago, but you said, 'give me some money' and the lady gave you some money and there were chickens squaking too."
AB: "WHAT? What in the THE WORLD are you talking about?"
Leif: "Dad, you were being a beggar. You told the woman to give you money and she did and there were chickens."
AB: "Was this a dream? This had to be a dream."
Leif: (Getting annoyed.) "No dad, you remember! It was not a dream, you begged for money the other day!"
AB: "Wait a second... was this when we went to the store and I bought a candybar and asked for money back?"
AB does this. He doesn't like to drive all the way to the BofA ATM and doesn't want to pay $2 to use a nonbank ATM. So he goes into the grocery store, buys something in the checkstand and gets his cash.
Leif: "You asked the woman for money and she gave it to you! You were begging for money dad."
AB: (Huge sigh.) "No, that isn't really what happened."
No telling what daycare thinks of us.
(Oh and we haven't figured out the squeaky chicken aspect yet.)
Monday, October 11, 2010
Conversations with my kids
Skadi: "Mommy, what is on your two head?"
Me: "My what?"
Skadi: "Your two head, what is on your two head?"
Me: "What is my two head?"
Skadi: (Reaches up and touches my forehead.)
AB: "She must think you have a small forehead."
-----
Sunday, 7am I walk out of the bedroom and Leif is sitting there. It appears that he has been up for awhile, but he has been getting scolded for waking us up at 6am on the weekends. He is to play quietly until we get up and only come in and jump on the bed if he really needs us.
Leif: "Oh good you are up!"
Me: "Yep, I am up."
Leif: "Can we make a pumpkin pie now?"
Me: "Umm, a pumpkin pie?"
Leif: "Yes, I was thinking about pumpkin pie and I would like some."
Me: "Ok, let's go make a pumpkin pie."
And so we did.
Me: "My what?"
Skadi: "Your two head, what is on your two head?"
Me: "What is my two head?"
Skadi: (Reaches up and touches my forehead.)
AB: "She must think you have a small forehead."
-----
Sunday, 7am I walk out of the bedroom and Leif is sitting there. It appears that he has been up for awhile, but he has been getting scolded for waking us up at 6am on the weekends. He is to play quietly until we get up and only come in and jump on the bed if he really needs us.
Leif: "Oh good you are up!"
Me: "Yep, I am up."
Leif: "Can we make a pumpkin pie now?"
Me: "Umm, a pumpkin pie?"
Leif: "Yes, I was thinking about pumpkin pie and I would like some."
Me: "Ok, let's go make a pumpkin pie."
And so we did.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Things that make you go 'hmmm'...
The other night I hugged Leif and told him as I do almost every night, “I am the luckiest mom in the world to have you as my little boy, how did I get so lucky?”
Leif, to my surprise, replied to that. “Well when I was in heaven before I was in your tummy, I picked you, that’s why” he told me.
(Insert my surprise here.)
“You picked me when you were in heaven?” I asked him.
“Of course I picked you, I remember,” he says all matter of factly.
“Why did you pick me?” I asked him, deciding to push this a bit further.
“Because I liked how you looked,” he answered simply.
At that point all I could do was hug him, of course.
Leif, to my surprise, replied to that. “Well when I was in heaven before I was in your tummy, I picked you, that’s why” he told me.
(Insert my surprise here.)
“You picked me when you were in heaven?” I asked him.
“Of course I picked you, I remember,” he says all matter of factly.
“Why did you pick me?” I asked him, deciding to push this a bit further.
“Because I liked how you looked,” he answered simply.
At that point all I could do was hug him, of course.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
The funny and the not so funny
Leif gets a kick out of making up lines of words to go along songs or nursery rhymes he hears. The other night for example, “Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb, Mary had a little lamb and she fell down on her nose!”
Hilarious, right?
Skadi has picked up this tendency. I kind of feel for Leif because I remember way back when my sister would say something funny and EVERYONE would laugh and think it was so funny. And I sat there with my jokes that drew rolled eyes.
(My favorite joke when I was 5 years old: “Why did the little girl monster eat bullets?” Answer: “Because she wanted to grow bangs!”)
Leif has modified his joke that we forbade him from saying anymore the other day. Now instead of asking “what’s your name?”, he asks, “what’s your first name?” When you look at him like ‘I told you we aren’t doing this’, he insists it is different. Now he asks for your first name, second name and last name, then goes on to “what color is the sky” and “what direction am I pointing?” Then he again insists it is different. And we scowl or roll our eyes.
(Brian, I told Leif your joke and he looked at me blankly… sorry!)
Then it just comes so naturally with Skadi.
Skadi: “Humpty dumpty sat on the wall, Humpty Dumpty had an atomic wedgie!”
Yes… sad to say, we all laughed. I know I probably shouldn't have encouraged it, it was just... just... so Skadi. Not sure where she picked up “atomic wedgie”…
And poor Leif is left wondering how to be funny like her.
Sorry Leif. Really sorry to have saddled you with a lack of joke telling ability.
Hilarious, right?
Skadi has picked up this tendency. I kind of feel for Leif because I remember way back when my sister would say something funny and EVERYONE would laugh and think it was so funny. And I sat there with my jokes that drew rolled eyes.
(My favorite joke when I was 5 years old: “Why did the little girl monster eat bullets?” Answer: “Because she wanted to grow bangs!”)
Leif has modified his joke that we forbade him from saying anymore the other day. Now instead of asking “what’s your name?”, he asks, “what’s your first name?” When you look at him like ‘I told you we aren’t doing this’, he insists it is different. Now he asks for your first name, second name and last name, then goes on to “what color is the sky” and “what direction am I pointing?” Then he again insists it is different. And we scowl or roll our eyes.
(Brian, I told Leif your joke and he looked at me blankly… sorry!)
Then it just comes so naturally with Skadi.
Skadi: “Humpty dumpty sat on the wall, Humpty Dumpty had an atomic wedgie!”
Yes… sad to say, we all laughed. I know I probably shouldn't have encouraged it, it was just... just... so Skadi. Not sure where she picked up “atomic wedgie”…
And poor Leif is left wondering how to be funny like her.
Sorry Leif. Really sorry to have saddled you with a lack of joke telling ability.
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Skadi Speak
Skadi: "I have a mini to go put in my mini bank!"
Alternative: "I have moneys to go put in my mini bank!"
Translation: "I have a penny (or any single coin) to go put in my piggy bank!"
Mini = single coin.
Mini Bank = where you put your coins one at a time.
Money = Plural of mini
Piggy = Just the shape of the mini bank
-------------
One of my favorites recently:
Leif: "Hey Skadi, do you like Green Eggs and Ham?"
Skadi: (Stuffing cereal in her mouth.) "No, Go fish."
-------------
Every once in awhile I get bored of Dora. We read Dora books every.single.night.
Every night.
I beg and beg for one of the many, many other books in her bookshelf and she says no. Only Dora.
So sometimes I make things up.
Like: "Hello Skadi, I am Swiper would you like a cookie?" Instead of "Swiper, no swiping!"
So I was a bit surprised when she responded quickly without missing a beat and a completely straight face - I go for the giggles, I want giggles. But I got a straight face and a simple response:
"Hi Swiper, yes, I would like a cookie, a caramel cookie!"
------------
I had a stomach ache and was laying on the couch.
Skadi took my temperature (with her doctor's kit), listened to my heart and stomach with her stethoscope.
"Here," she said, "I get you a blanket."
She covers me up.
"Ok now," she continues, "Push the baby out."
AB's head whipped around quite fast! My jaw dropped open.
When I inquired at school no one had any ideas. I loved though that Ms. S admitted it was her, that she was the one expecting (a widow in her mid-50's with boys my age). They did tell me that one of Skadi's "friends" (term used loosely - she has a lot of conflicts with this one little girl) has been telling everyone her mommy is going to have a baby, though no one thinks it true.
-----------
And wrap up with a Leif one.
Leif has been a bit emotional lately.
Ok, so he has been a lot emotional lately.
Everything bugs him, you can't look at him sideways. His feelings get hurt very easily. Most of all, he seems terrified of not having me around. I think this is common at this age, but it is also a bit more prominent with my mom's health. This absolutely breaks my heart.
The other night he was hugging me, "Mommy, even when you are a grandma, I don't want you to move out of this house and leave me, ever ever. I want you to stay with me always."
This is of course, contrary to him telling me the other day he was getting married and moving to "her" house. When I said I would miss him terribly he agreed to split the nights between "her" house and ours. One night at "her" house, one night at our house.
Well at least he is honest... I know what I am watching for in another 22 years!
Alternative: "I have moneys to go put in my mini bank!"
Translation: "I have a penny (or any single coin) to go put in my piggy bank!"
Mini = single coin.
Mini Bank = where you put your coins one at a time.
Money = Plural of mini
Piggy = Just the shape of the mini bank
-------------
One of my favorites recently:
Leif: "Hey Skadi, do you like Green Eggs and Ham?"
Skadi: (Stuffing cereal in her mouth.) "No, Go fish."
-------------
Every once in awhile I get bored of Dora. We read Dora books every.single.night.
Every night.
I beg and beg for one of the many, many other books in her bookshelf and she says no. Only Dora.
So sometimes I make things up.
Like: "Hello Skadi, I am Swiper would you like a cookie?" Instead of "Swiper, no swiping!"
So I was a bit surprised when she responded quickly without missing a beat and a completely straight face - I go for the giggles, I want giggles. But I got a straight face and a simple response:
"Hi Swiper, yes, I would like a cookie, a caramel cookie!"
------------
I had a stomach ache and was laying on the couch.
Skadi took my temperature (with her doctor's kit), listened to my heart and stomach with her stethoscope.
"Here," she said, "I get you a blanket."
She covers me up.
"Ok now," she continues, "Push the baby out."
AB's head whipped around quite fast! My jaw dropped open.
When I inquired at school no one had any ideas. I loved though that Ms. S admitted it was her, that she was the one expecting (a widow in her mid-50's with boys my age). They did tell me that one of Skadi's "friends" (term used loosely - she has a lot of conflicts with this one little girl) has been telling everyone her mommy is going to have a baby, though no one thinks it true.
-----------
And wrap up with a Leif one.
Leif has been a bit emotional lately.
Ok, so he has been a lot emotional lately.
Everything bugs him, you can't look at him sideways. His feelings get hurt very easily. Most of all, he seems terrified of not having me around. I think this is common at this age, but it is also a bit more prominent with my mom's health. This absolutely breaks my heart.
The other night he was hugging me, "Mommy, even when you are a grandma, I don't want you to move out of this house and leave me, ever ever. I want you to stay with me always."
This is of course, contrary to him telling me the other day he was getting married and moving to "her" house. When I said I would miss him terribly he agreed to split the nights between "her" house and ours. One night at "her" house, one night at our house.
Well at least he is honest... I know what I am watching for in another 22 years!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Say what you mean or mean what you say?
I think Skadi got a bit of my grandmother in how she speaks. Skadi very easily makes up words and mispronounces words. It's always been a bit of a joke with my grandmother. About 10 years ago she got out of back surgery and they weren't going to release her from the hospital because she was mixing up her words - someone finally convinced the therapists that was just how she spoke. And it's been that way since I was a kid.
Word: "Tamrow"
Usage: "Is it going to be tamrow?"
First thoughts: Tamara? A name? We were starting to think it was an imaginary friend.
Reality: "Tomorrow". Only took us a few months to figure that one out and I beat daycare to figuring it out.
Word: "Holy-popper"
Usage: "Look through the holy-popper."
Reality: Well this one is obvious since she is holding her set of kids binoculars when she says it.
Word: "Holy-scoper"
Usage: "Look through the holy-scoper."
Reality: Yeah, not much difference than the above. In this case it is in reference to the telescope on the Little Tykes playset. She got the "scope" part.
----------------
Leif: "Can I have more tuna fish casserole?"
AB and I were perplexed.
NM: "We haven't had any tuna fish casserole, plus I thought you didn't like it?"
Leif: "No, the good tuna fish casserole!"
AB: "We don't know what you mean Leif."
Leif: (walks over to the cooling lefse) "THIS tuna fish casserole, can I have more of this tuna fish casserole?"(pointing to the lefse)
This happened twice. And yes, I am still perplexed.
Word: "Tamrow"
Usage: "Is it going to be tamrow?"
First thoughts: Tamara? A name? We were starting to think it was an imaginary friend.
Reality: "Tomorrow". Only took us a few months to figure that one out and I beat daycare to figuring it out.
Word: "Holy-popper"
Usage: "Look through the holy-popper."
Reality: Well this one is obvious since she is holding her set of kids binoculars when she says it.
Word: "Holy-scoper"
Usage: "Look through the holy-scoper."
Reality: Yeah, not much difference than the above. In this case it is in reference to the telescope on the Little Tykes playset. She got the "scope" part.
----------------
Leif: "Can I have more tuna fish casserole?"
AB and I were perplexed.
NM: "We haven't had any tuna fish casserole, plus I thought you didn't like it?"
Leif: "No, the good tuna fish casserole!"
AB: "We don't know what you mean Leif."
Leif: (walks over to the cooling lefse) "THIS tuna fish casserole, can I have more of this tuna fish casserole?"(pointing to the lefse)
This happened twice. And yes, I am still perplexed.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Crazy kids!
Leif is testing new ways to deal with Skadi. As an older sibling myself, I feel for him. Really I do!
Leif: "Skadi, you are really displeasing me tonight."
Leif: "Skadi, I am going to make a new rule and you have to listen to it."
And when those don't work, he pulled out the big guns:
Leif: "Skadi, Santa is watching you."
---------
Leif: "Mom, when you are buying something and you don't have the right money, can you still get it?"
Me: "Well that depends Leif. If something you want is $5 and you only have a $10 bill, then yes, you can get it and the cashier will give you $5 back."
Leif: "No mom, that's not what I mean. If you have some money and you are at a store, like the green bean store, and you want something, and that something costs money and you have money, but not the right money, and you want the green beans, and the green beans cost money and you want them to give you the green beans, what would you do?"
Me: "Buy them?"
Leif: "NO MOM! You are at the green bean store like I told you. What do you do?"
Me: "I don't know Leif, better ask your dad."
-----------
Skadi: "I want a waterfall in my room mommy. A waterfall with a beautiful rainbow! Mommy, are you a mermaid? Do you want to be a mermaid? I want to be a mermaid!"
Leif: "Skadi, you are really displeasing me tonight."
Leif: "Skadi, I am going to make a new rule and you have to listen to it."
And when those don't work, he pulled out the big guns:
Leif: "Skadi, Santa is watching you."
---------
Leif: "Mom, when you are buying something and you don't have the right money, can you still get it?"
Me: "Well that depends Leif. If something you want is $5 and you only have a $10 bill, then yes, you can get it and the cashier will give you $5 back."
Leif: "No mom, that's not what I mean. If you have some money and you are at a store, like the green bean store, and you want something, and that something costs money and you have money, but not the right money, and you want the green beans, and the green beans cost money and you want them to give you the green beans, what would you do?"
Me: "Buy them?"
Leif: "NO MOM! You are at the green bean store like I told you. What do you do?"
Me: "I don't know Leif, better ask your dad."
-----------
Skadi: "I want a waterfall in my room mommy. A waterfall with a beautiful rainbow! Mommy, are you a mermaid? Do you want to be a mermaid? I want to be a mermaid!"
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Believe
Earlier in the year Leif came home from school with a question in mind… is Santa real?
Or he phrased it more like, “Isaac said that Santa is just your parents dressed up. Is that true mommy?”
Easy and very truthful response.
“No, neither mommy or daddy dress up like Santa. Aren’t we the ones that take you to see Santa at the mall? How could we dress up and be next to you?”
Ok, so maybe I took his question too literal. So I backpedaled a little.
“Not everyone believes in Santa Claus, but I do and I hope you do too. I truly believe that Santa is the spirit of giving,” I went on honestly.
Leif assured me that he believed in Santa and I dropped it there after half pondering talking to the kids’ teacher (Isaac is an older child in the class) and considering speaking to Isaac’s dad at work just to give him a heads up that his son is spreading fibs – I also pondered keeping Leif in a bubble, but that isn’t terribly feasible and I am sure CPS would be onto me quickly.
The other day after seeing Santa at school Leif came home and had this to say:
“It wasn’t a normal Santa though, something weird was his beard and it wasn’t real hair,” he said.
“What do you think about that?” I asked him probing gently.
“I think it was just someone dressed up to be like Santa,” he said. “And you know what? All the kids in line in front of me asked for pencils, but I asked for the Batman Wii game!”
“Why did all your friends ask for pencils?” I asked him perplexed.
“Well they must have asked for pencils, because it’s what they got,” he said.
“Did Santa give you a Batman Wii game?” I asked.
“No, he just gave me a pencil too,” Leif said.
We went to the mall the other day for a quick trip and noted that there was no line for Santa… and the kids actually looked alright! No huge obvious stains. Leif wasn’t in Christmas themed clothes, but he looked nice enough. Skadi had her Christmas dress on (like she does many days lately), though she had navy blue tights with flowers on – so did not match the Christmas dress – but she had her boots on, so it wasn’t horrid. We jumped quick into the very short line.
As we stood there a grin grew on Leif’s face.
“Mommy, look!” he said. “It’s the NORMAL Santa!”
And both kids beamed after hanging with Santa for a few. He was a good Santa too – more friendly than the prior year’s grump. And he did look, “normal”.
I guess I have a few years left while his measure of the real Santa resides in whether or not there is a fake or real beard.
Or he phrased it more like, “Isaac said that Santa is just your parents dressed up. Is that true mommy?”
Easy and very truthful response.
“No, neither mommy or daddy dress up like Santa. Aren’t we the ones that take you to see Santa at the mall? How could we dress up and be next to you?”
Ok, so maybe I took his question too literal. So I backpedaled a little.
“Not everyone believes in Santa Claus, but I do and I hope you do too. I truly believe that Santa is the spirit of giving,” I went on honestly.
Leif assured me that he believed in Santa and I dropped it there after half pondering talking to the kids’ teacher (Isaac is an older child in the class) and considering speaking to Isaac’s dad at work just to give him a heads up that his son is spreading fibs – I also pondered keeping Leif in a bubble, but that isn’t terribly feasible and I am sure CPS would be onto me quickly.
The other day after seeing Santa at school Leif came home and had this to say:
“It wasn’t a normal Santa though, something weird was his beard and it wasn’t real hair,” he said.
“What do you think about that?” I asked him probing gently.
“I think it was just someone dressed up to be like Santa,” he said. “And you know what? All the kids in line in front of me asked for pencils, but I asked for the Batman Wii game!”
“Why did all your friends ask for pencils?” I asked him perplexed.
“Well they must have asked for pencils, because it’s what they got,” he said.
“Did Santa give you a Batman Wii game?” I asked.
“No, he just gave me a pencil too,” Leif said.
We went to the mall the other day for a quick trip and noted that there was no line for Santa… and the kids actually looked alright! No huge obvious stains. Leif wasn’t in Christmas themed clothes, but he looked nice enough. Skadi had her Christmas dress on (like she does many days lately), though she had navy blue tights with flowers on – so did not match the Christmas dress – but she had her boots on, so it wasn’t horrid. We jumped quick into the very short line.
As we stood there a grin grew on Leif’s face.
“Mommy, look!” he said. “It’s the NORMAL Santa!”
And both kids beamed after hanging with Santa for a few. He was a good Santa too – more friendly than the prior year’s grump. And he did look, “normal”.
I guess I have a few years left while his measure of the real Santa resides in whether or not there is a fake or real beard.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Learning in progress
I am certain that as a teenager he won't make a similar mistake.
Leif: (Crawling all over everything in Skadi's daycare room, being highly obnoxious.)
Me: "Leif stop it."
Leif: (Rolling around the floor and taking apart the mats in Skadi's daycare room, being highly obnoxious.)
Me: "Leif, I said stop it. Stand up."
Leif: (Climbing onto a table and standing up. Oh and being highly obnoxious.)
Me: "Get off of that now. The next time I tell you, you are losing your Wii privileges, do you understand?"
Leif: (Sheepishly nods while I talk to another parent.)
Me: "Let's go guys."
Leif: (Walks out of the daycare room and crawls onto a table and jumps off.)
Me: "That's it, you are done. No Wii privileges."
Leif: "But mom! I didn't hear you! I was ignoring you and plugging my ears to you while you were saying no Wii privileges earlier!"
Leif: (Crawling all over everything in Skadi's daycare room, being highly obnoxious.)
Me: "Leif stop it."
Leif: (Rolling around the floor and taking apart the mats in Skadi's daycare room, being highly obnoxious.)
Me: "Leif, I said stop it. Stand up."
Leif: (Climbing onto a table and standing up. Oh and being highly obnoxious.)
Me: "Get off of that now. The next time I tell you, you are losing your Wii privileges, do you understand?"
Leif: (Sheepishly nods while I talk to another parent.)
Me: "Let's go guys."
Leif: (Walks out of the daycare room and crawls onto a table and jumps off.)
Me: "That's it, you are done. No Wii privileges."
Leif: "But mom! I didn't hear you! I was ignoring you and plugging my ears to you while you were saying no Wii privileges earlier!"
Saturday, July 11, 2009
How we speak
When Leif was learning to talk we laughed about a few things he would say. He tended to start his sentences with "Actually," a lot. We giggled about it and ignored it.
(Now he is on to using "Additionally" properly in his sentences which is also a crack up.)
Now Skadi is hitting that age of developing her own sentences and she has picked one up...
Starting her sentences with "Actually". Like as in "Actually, no."
First child, it was a fluke.
Second child... apparently one of uses "Actually" to start sentences quite frequently.
The one my daughter did NOT inherit from me is "see my panties".
She wore panties to daycare this week and was quite proud of them. Her teacher reported back to me that she showed most everyone her panties. Including Coach Brett, who she has met a whole ONE time. She got on the Tumblebus, pulled her dress up and said, "Coach Brett, see my panties!"
Oh so very proud.
On the phone last night with grandma she asked Skadi about wearing panties.
Skadi put the phone down and started pulling her pants down.
I picked it up, "did you ask her about her panties mom?"
"Yes," she tells me.
"Ok, she is showing them to you right now!" I told her.
(Now he is on to using "Additionally" properly in his sentences which is also a crack up.)
Now Skadi is hitting that age of developing her own sentences and she has picked one up...
Starting her sentences with "Actually". Like as in "Actually, no."
First child, it was a fluke.
Second child... apparently one of uses "Actually" to start sentences quite frequently.
The one my daughter did NOT inherit from me is "see my panties".
She wore panties to daycare this week and was quite proud of them. Her teacher reported back to me that she showed most everyone her panties. Including Coach Brett, who she has met a whole ONE time. She got on the Tumblebus, pulled her dress up and said, "Coach Brett, see my panties!"
Oh so very proud.
On the phone last night with grandma she asked Skadi about wearing panties.
Skadi put the phone down and started pulling her pants down.
I picked it up, "did you ask her about her panties mom?"
"Yes," she tells me.
"Ok, she is showing them to you right now!" I told her.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Rhinos and polar bears oh my!
Leif in the car the other morning.
Leif: "Will daddy take a gun and hunt for rhinoceros?"
NM: "No honey." (Wondering in my head why he thinks AB hunts - AB has only really hunted for ducks maybe once he reminds Leif routinely.)
Leif: "I think he should hunt for rhinoceroses so I can eat rhino meat. I like rhino meat a lot!"
NM: "Do you? I have never had rhino meant."
Leif: "Well if daddy won't hunt for it I am sure he will buy some at the grocery store."
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At dinner last night.
NM: "What are you studying in school Leif?"
Leif: "Polar bears!"
AB: "Did you know that I have seen a polar bear Leif?"
Leif: "No! Did you have your sword or gun?"
AB: "Well someone I was with had a gun, but it shot fireworks to scare the bear away."
Leif: "Oh, polar bears are bad." (Wheels are turning... guns that shoot fireworks?)
AB: "They aren't bad, they are beautiful."
Leif: "Nope, they are bad."
Discussions to assess whether or not polar bears are bad or not.
NM: "Well what animals are good then?"
Leif: "Monkeys and they are beautiful too."
Leif: "Will daddy take a gun and hunt for rhinoceros?"
NM: "No honey." (Wondering in my head why he thinks AB hunts - AB has only really hunted for ducks maybe once he reminds Leif routinely.)
Leif: "I think he should hunt for rhinoceroses so I can eat rhino meat. I like rhino meat a lot!"
NM: "Do you? I have never had rhino meant."
Leif: "Well if daddy won't hunt for it I am sure he will buy some at the grocery store."
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At dinner last night.
NM: "What are you studying in school Leif?"
Leif: "Polar bears!"
AB: "Did you know that I have seen a polar bear Leif?"
Leif: "No! Did you have your sword or gun?"
AB: "Well someone I was with had a gun, but it shot fireworks to scare the bear away."
Leif: "Oh, polar bears are bad." (Wheels are turning... guns that shoot fireworks?)
AB: "They aren't bad, they are beautiful."
Leif: "Nope, they are bad."
Discussions to assess whether or not polar bears are bad or not.
NM: "Well what animals are good then?"
Leif: "Monkeys and they are beautiful too."
Monday, December 15, 2008
My personal comedy show
Not a day goes by that Leif doesn't completely crack me up. He doesn't get this from me - I am not quick on my feet with speaking.
We were in the car driving home this evening.
NM: "Leif what did you do today?"
Leif: "I will tell you when we get home and not a moment before."
A little while later...
Skadi: "Moooommmmmyyyy, supper time!"
NM: "Skadi baby are you hungry?"
Skadi: "YES!"
Leif: "I am too, but I don't want Mexican food. We always have to have Mexican food and I am TIRED of it."
(And for the record we have tacos maybe once every two weeks and order take out Mexican about once a month.)
A little later...
Leif: "Hey mom, you know my crocodile that shoots water out of the two holes in his nostrils in the bathtub?"
NM: "Yep."
Leif: "I am going to rename him."
NM: (Not realizing the crocodile had a name to start with.) "What are you changing his name to?"
Leif: "Squirting crocodile of Hannukah."
We were in the car driving home this evening.
NM: "Leif what did you do today?"
Leif: "I will tell you when we get home and not a moment before."
A little while later...
Skadi: "Moooommmmmyyyy, supper time!"
NM: "Skadi baby are you hungry?"
Skadi: "YES!"
Leif: "I am too, but I don't want Mexican food. We always have to have Mexican food and I am TIRED of it."
(And for the record we have tacos maybe once every two weeks and order take out Mexican about once a month.)
A little later...
Leif: "Hey mom, you know my crocodile that shoots water out of the two holes in his nostrils in the bathtub?"
NM: "Yep."
Leif: "I am going to rename him."
NM: (Not realizing the crocodile had a name to start with.) "What are you changing his name to?"
Leif: "Squirting crocodile of Hannukah."
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