The Raisin Bran Request

One morning, while perusing through the vast number of cereal boxes in the cabinet, Danny said to me, "Mom, can you buy Raisin Bran?"  I turned around to see a brand new box sitting right in his view.  Pointing it out, I said, "It's right there in the cabinet".   He said, "No, I mean the good kind." 
"That is the good kind!"
"No.  The other one has less raisins in it."
"You mean you want less raisins?"
"Yes," he replied, " I don't really like raisins" (9/4/13)

The Truth

 James told me that he was working on a special  card for Tom's birthday.  He said, "I'm making an acrostic poem on the front."  I said, "Wow, that's a great idea.  Dad will love that. Are you using the word 'Dad' for the poem?"  He said, "No, I'm using 'Father' because it's longer and has lots of different letters."  He paused and said, "For the 'A'  I wrote 'Awesome.'  And for the 'E' I wrote 'Expert on Everything'.  Oh! and for the 'H' I wrote 'Helpful in Every Way'.  I can't remember what I wrote for the other letters. "   I commented on how nice that was, and jokingly asked, "For the 'F' did you write 'Farts A Lot'?"
Taking me seriously, and clearly offended, James chastised me and said, "Moooooom!!! No! Of course not!  That's not nice! I'm  writing things that are going to make him feel good!  I'm not going to write the truth!!"  (5/11/13)

Days of Yore

Katie was writing her name and the date on her homework when I heard her sigh and say, "I miss the old days."  I asked her, "What do you consider the old days?"  She replied, "2012."  (2/21/13)

Would You Rather...

After James spent the afternoon asking his sister "would you rather" questions, Katie eventually fell asleep on the couch and James then directed his odd questions to me.
"Mom, would you rather have a disco room, own a Dunkin' Donuts, or have a talking golf ball?"           
 I said, "I guess I'd pick the Dunkin' Donuts".  
"Would you rather own Disney World, own Hershey Park, or own a hat that says 'Foxy Grandpa'?" 
 "I'll pick Hershey Park"  
 "Would you rather own a private jet, a rocket ship, or a 1000 bottles of milk?"
 "Private jet".
"Would you rather own a new hot rod, a monster truck, or an exploding pineapple?"   
"I"ll take the exploding pineapple"
He abruptly stopped and sternly said, "Mom! Really?!  You can pick a hot rod or a monster truck,  and you're saying you'd REALLY pick the exploding pineapple?!  I'm not going to do this anymore if you're not going to take it seriously!"
(2/1/13)

Casual Conversation

Our family recently went upstate to enjoy some winter fun in the snow.  While Tom and Danny went skiing, James, Katie and I decided to stay behind and wait to go snow tubing later. Katie and James were happily playing together in the other room when I heard an excerpt of their conversation:
James: "What last name would you rather have: Butt, Butt face, or Pooing Butt-face?"
Katie: "Butt."
James: "What last name would you want the least out of those names?"
Katie: "Pooing Butt-face "
James: "Good choices. That's what I'd pick too."
(2/1/13)

Diplomacy

     On the ride home from school, Danny asked me, "Mom, you know how countries can be hostile, neutral or pacifists?" I said, "Yes."  He continued, "And you know how a hostile nation is one that attacks other countries first, and a neutral nation doesn't attack, but will defend themselves if they're attacked, and pacifist nations only want peace?"  I said with a laugh, "I guess you paid attention in school today."  He said, "Well, I was thinking.  James, Katie and I are like countries.  James is a pacifist country, because if you hit him or do something to him, he never hits back.  He just runs and tells you about it.  Katie is the neutral country because she doesn't really hit you first, but if you hit her, even  by accident, she'll go crazy on you and attack you really bad.  And I'm definitely a hostile nation, because I  always attack James and Katie."  After one Social Studies lesson, Danny was able to give me the abridged version of 10 years of sibling diplomacy. (2/14/13)

Tales of a Third Grade Troublemaker

Danny was telling stories to Katie and James of when he was in first and third grade.   I was enjoying all the laughter coming from the room, so I listened in closer to hear some of the tales. All but one of the stories ended with , "...then the teacher got really mad and I had to write an apology note." (11/20/12)