Childrenisms

Last week was a good week. I got to have lunch with several friends three days in a row. It was awesome.

On the first day Baby came home from school early because he wasn't feeling good. I set him up in front of the TV with a drink and told him I'd be back in a few hours. Don't worry, he knows my cell number and could call me if he needed something.

The next day he still wasn't feeling good so the rest of the family met our friends and had a long leisurely lunch. When we got home his food was stone cold. Should've thought of that and ordered before we left, but who wants to stand in line twice?

On Saturday when I was taking him home from his basketball game I told him I was having lunch with another friend and that I'd be back in a few hours, again.

"Mom, we're not French! They may have several courses for their meals, but we don't. Why does it take you so long to have lunch?"

I laughed and laughed. 

Another day we were talking about who knows what, but apparently adulthood because I said, "It really sucks to be an adult sometimes."

We both sighed. And then I said, "Cuz you have to pay bills."

And he replied, "And you're not light and stealthy on your feet like a kid. Unless you train like a Ninja!"

Sometimes the children are priceless.

Foodie review

These are unsolicited reviews from my children about dinner earlier this week.

from cheekykitchen.com

Earlier this week I made this pizza. It was to die for. I didn't make it up cuz I never do, I'm not that creative. But give me a good recipe and I can usually follow it as long as it's not too complicated. I got this recipe from my favorite cupcake lady and you can find it here. I've tried quite a few recipes from her and they are all to die for.

But this night I made this pizza. I had to tailor it to fit my children. Or in other words I didn't put the veggies on their half of the pizza. But they liked it!

I got rave reviews. Here are some of their comments:

• Do they make this pizza anywhere else cuz I've never had anything so good!
• Can you make this again?
• This is better than any pizza I've EVER had
• You should open a restaurant!

I may not make a lot of things my kids like but when they like something they let me know!

Visions of Sugar Plums

Today I succumbed. To the local version of Groupon or SocialLiving or some other "Daily Deals" special. I relented and got the kids and Olaf the "Mother of All Passes!" It entitles them to unlimited entry to the local Mini Amusement park, you know the kind that every decent sized town has. It also gives them entry into the local Water Park. The kicker was the food discount at the Water Park, 3%.

The kids have visions. Visions of living in their swimsuits this summer. Visions of going to work with Olaf and then when the Water Park opens at 11am he can run them over to swim. We mentioned that our friends have the pass. But they don't have to get the Season Parking Pass because the grandparents live right next door. Baby's eyes got dreamy.

"Do they just stay at their grandparents in the summer?"

Commercials

Baby has had a pretty icky mattress for a few years. About two years ago Olaf put a big, three-inch, egg crate, mattress pad on it.

That satisfied him until yesterday.

Last night he told Olaf, "Dad, you can have the pink pad back."

"I think you'll have a pretty lumpy mattress if you do. You can keep it."

"Not if you get me a Tempur-Pedic mattress!"

Despite my best intentions the kid watches too much TV!

The Ten Commandments

Part of being LDS is Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy, it is one of the Ten Commandments. From the time you're little it's ingrained in your head that you don't shop on Sunday. It's taught to the little kids at church and as adults we're reminded in classes on a regular basis. We try not to shop on Sunday but there are times when we've felt like we really needed something and gone to the store anyway.

One such day back when Calvin was probably five or six we pulled into the Kmart parking lot right after church. As we started to pull into a parking spot Calvin hollered from the back seat, "No shopping on Sunday!!!"

Olaf kept on rolling, never stopped, and we went right home. Apparently whatever we needed wasn't so important that we had to have it right away.

Thinking we had great boys who listened at church we praised them. Until the following Tuesday when I went back to Kmart with the boys in the back seat. As Calvin and Middle Child both hollered, "No shopping on Tuesday!!" I began to suspect their Sunday Shopping comment had been more of an effort to not shop, their most despised activity, rather than to obey the Ten Commandments.

Baseball in Spanish Fork

Baseball in Spanish Fork is a little crazy. People here are fanatical about this sport. And it's known the whole county over. Baby has enjoyed his first year of Little League. And it's been fun to watch their team improve over the season.

They have a great coach who's worked hard with the kids and tried to teach them all the basics. He even taught them how to 'take a knee.' But regardless Baby's team was last in their division. This week they started City Tournament. Those of us Mom's who have watched a few painful games were willing to let them lose both games and be done for the year.

Such was not our fate. The team has finally started to Shine! They won their first game by a landslide. To begin with we were all annoyed that it was another 8:30 pm game. By this time of night the 3rd and 4th graders are just tired. And to make matters worse this game didn't start until 9 pm. So we were there until almost 11 pm. So it came as a shock when we won!

We moved on down the bracket. We played the next day. And we won again! This team was pretty good and already assured a spot on the State Tournament which we sure weren't. It was kind of fun.

One of the fun parts of the baseball season is getting to know the other families of the team members and watching each of the boys improve. Or break bones. Not our child this year. Baby has really improved and now that the season is almost over he kind of knows what he's doing. That's usually how it works. But he has had a lot of fun and been quite entertaining for the parents in the stands.

For instance. The last game we played. Baby got a run. He loves it when he gets to slide into home base. He loves getting his pants all dirty. But for some reason he didn't slide into home this time. I'm not sure if something got in his way or if he was just entertaining all the adults. But he Rolled over home base! As everyone in our team's stand laughed and cheered I got several comments from different parents:

"He's my favorite to watch!"

"I LOVE him!"

"Only your boy!"

"He's always so much fun!"

Apparently most of the parents enjoy watching my child, thankfully even the Coach. He may not be the best hitter or outfielder, but he's the best entertainer on the team. And he's always got a smile on his face, whether they're winning or losing.

That Makes Me Look Fat

The other day Olaf got Baby up and going. He threw him in the shower. He got him a towel. And he put some clothes in the bathroom so Baby wouldn't have to leave the warm bathroom and venture into his cold room to get dressed.

Baby showered and got out when I finally knocked on the wall to let him know he'd been in there enough to cost me a small fortune in a water heater bill.

About five minutes later I noticed he was still in the bathroom. No surprises there. He likes to crawl under his towel and over the heater vent and get nice and hot. So I went in the bathroom to help him get moving.

"Hey, you! Get up! We need to get you dressed. Here's the clothes Dad got you. Do you have your underwear on yet? Nope, here it is. Dad even brought you two pair to choose from. Do you want light or dark blue striped undies on your bum today?"

"Light blue! That Dark Blue makes my butt look fat!" and he snickered his evil laugh.

The Evil Force

A couple years ago Olaf walked out of work. And saw this car in the parking lot. He couldn't resist getting a few pics.

The license plate is pretty awesome. You see, we love Star Wars at this house. Baby has so many Star Wars Legos that it's ridiculous. But Middle Child absolutely LOVES Darth Vader.

So he had to get a pic of the hood of the Star Wars car. Pretty nice paint job! Once we asked Middle Child why he liked Darth Vader so much, hoping it wasn't because he was evil. His reply, you ask?

"Because he can make people do whatever he wants them to do!"

We tried to explain the difference between the the Evil Darth Vader forcing people to do things versus the Good side of the Force, the Jedi's, using the Force for the benefit of others. But being the victim of his older brother, he was much more interested in Making People Do Things.

Agoraphobic-to-Be

When Middle Child was young he was a homebody. Most children are grounded to their rooms when they are in trouble. Middle Child would be grounded to the outdoors and forced to play with friends. He could only handle so much interaction with the outside world. He would have to come home and hide in his humble hovel after so much time in the outside world. Some days I thought I was growing an agoraphobic-to-be. Besides needing "his" time he also wasn't very good at telling people he was going home. He oftentimes would be in the middle of playing with friends and just go home. To hide. No one had done anything to upset him, he had just had enough.

One time when I thought he should have grown out of his rude departures I coached him into telling his friends that he was "tired" and needed to "rest" and that he would come play some more later.

Later that week he told his bestest friend in the whole wide world, M, what I coached him to say, verbatim. Not an ounce of deviation. A little after he left M came to his Mom, who happens to be my bestest friend in the whole wide world, and complained.

"Middle Child lied to me!"

"He did? What happened?"

"He told me he was tired and was going home to rest. But I followed him. I spied on him through the window. He's not resting. He's not tired. He's home playing the computer!"

My bestest friend laughed so hard and when she was finally done and had come up for air she called me to tell me the news. I laughed hard and long. At least he finally listened to me and followed my advice. Unfortunately, it backfired. Maybe I should just let him use his rude departures, at least that wasn't lying.

Inherited Diseases

There is a hereditary disease in our family. I should probably qualify that statement. My family has a disease of mismatched words and phrases. We choke and splutter and spit out the wrong words quite often. One Sister is the worst offender. Once I was driving with her and she got all excited and asked if I had seen hijacker on the side of the road. Of course I hadn't! But when she described the hijacker I realized it was really a hitchhiker.

Unfortunately Baby has inherited this disease. He's so stinking cute that something had to bring him down.

He got some new shoes this summer. One day Olaf told him they were heading out. Baby said, "I wanna go! Let me grab my crotches!"

Olaf did a double take and asked what grabbing his crotch had to do with going anywhere. And then Baby grabbed his new crocs. Olaf laughed and told him they were crocs, not crotches.

"What's the difference?" Baby asked. And so Olaf got to explain the difference between crotches and crocs.

This weekend we are at a family reunion in a ski town in Colorado. We decided to rent some condominiums instead of hotels. And the kids love them. Two bedrooms, kitchen, living and dining room. They are nice and roomy.

Baby announced to everyone that we were staying in some condoms. No one has explained the difference in those two terms to him quite yet.

Almost 12

Middle Child is almost 12. And some days I think he will be lucky if he makes it to 12. He's a little forgetful. And really sweet. (Thank goodness for that last one because currently it's his only saving grace.)

When we went to Lagoon we took his best friend. We got there and I handed Middle Child some money. Then I handed Baby some money. Then I said to BFF, "You have your money your mom gave you, right?"

"Oh, shoot," in that way only an 11-year-old boy can say that phrase. "I left it in my pants."

A few minutes later we were unloading. "Don't forget your bag of towels for when you swim, boys."

This time Middle Child piped up, "Oh, shoot. It's at home on the floor by the door."

"Well, it's a good thing it's hot out. You'll just have to air dry."

We then found a "camping spot" for our cooler and towels (that were remembered) and other crap we brought along. I had a lengthy conversation (for an 11-year-old) about leaving his cell phone at our "camping spot" even if he was just riding water rides, because it will get wet and we don't want to ruin another phone. Then Middle Child and his BFF took off for a day of fun rides.

Throughout the day I noticed his cell phone deposited in the bag at our spot and then gone again, then back again and I was so proud of him for remembering to drop it off.

Then a little later Olaf gave me a call. "Don't bother calling Middle Child."

"Why?"

"He went swimming with his phone."

11-year-old boys.

Then today Olaf brought them to my work. I had some pool punch passes the boys were going to use. "Did you remember to bring all your stuff? Towels, sunscreen, anything else?"

To which Middle Child replied, "Oh, shoot."

One day, I hope, he's going to grow up and remember something besides what is physically on his body.

PS. We let the phone dry out for 1 1/2 weeks and it miraculously now works!

I Want My Two Dollars

In case you forgot, last Sunday was Father's Day. And at church, as usual, the under-12 kids sang a song or two to honor their dad. Our group of youth is slowly dwindling, I counted thirteen kids singing. But they sang great and loud enough for us to hear way in the back. When they were excused it took Baby an unusually long time to reach our seats. I didn't know what took so long until I talked to a friend today.

My friend's family had been gone for the last three weeks and Middle Child had taken care of their cat and mowed the yard. After he left for Scout Camp, Baby filled in. And Baby expected payment. As he was running off the stage he spotted my friend's husband and children. He stopped mid-step, almost fell over, stepped backwards, and pointed accusingly at them.

"You're back!" he practically shouted in the middle of our mostly older, quiet, reverent congregation. "You owe me a couple bucks! I took care of your cat!" And then he sidled over to them in expectation of payment.

The poor husband was trying his best not to laugh, not to draw more attention to themselves, to shush Baby, and to get him back to his seat quietly. "We'll get you your money. We haven't forgotten you."

That must have been enough to console Baby for the day. He took off again, pounding his feet all the way down the aisle, around the corner, and down the gym floor aisle to our seats. Quiet is not part of my boys' abilities. They can do plenty of other things, but Quiet is not one of them.

By the time he reached us I was trying my darnedest not to laugh and not to be embarrassed. He was running through church! Again! And as he sat down I tried to tell him not to run through church (again!).

Not very quietly he replied, "I was just coming back to my seat," as if I accused him of a crime for which he was not guilty. And I was, the crime was the inability to be Quiet. I've almost given up, but I keep trying for some reason. One of these days the reminder may actually sink in. Probably when he has little boys of his own.

Apparently, this afternoon Baby went to my friend's house. He knocked on the door and demanded payment, again. The husband laughed and told Baby he had given the money to me. "But I haven't seen it!" He just laughed some more and told him to ask his mommy for the money. Tonight I paid Baby his two dollars.

Next week we're renting Better Off Dead and letting Baby see what happens when you're too persistent in demanding payment. It's a cult classic. For my generation.

How to Tell if You're Getting Taller

Sister-in-Law Nurse told Baby he was getting taller. And he agreed.

"I can tell when I pee," he nonchalantly replied.

In between fits of giggling she asked how that was the determining factor of growth.

"The toilet's farther away."

And that is the logic of an eight-year-old boy. I don't think it gets any better over the next 60 years.

Back to School

Spring Break is officially over and done. The children are back to school. That means back to waking up early and me attempting to get them to bed earlier than last week. That last part is hard. The sun is up later, it's gorgeous out this week, (as opposed to spring break when it snowed) and the kids do anything they can to stay up late. Baby has been nicknamed "Grizz" on the mornings he doesn't wake up happy. That ends up being the mornings when there isn't something special going on such as an Easter Egg Hunt, Christmas presents, No School, etc, which translates into most mornings.

The first morning back to school Olaf got Baby out of bed and dressed. Boy was he a Grizz! He whined and cried while Olaf dressed him. Then he traipsed out to the sofa and promptly lay down and threw the blanket over himself.

"Time to read scriptures!" I announced, our morning ritual.

"Uhhh, will you get mine for me Dad?" and Olaf handed him his scriptures and helped him find the right place.

We all took turns reading a few verses and then it was Baby's turn.

"Where are we?" as he finally looks at the book.

"Right here. You just need to read a couple verses, they're the shortest ones."

He pauses, looks, groans, and starts reading, "Blah, blah, blahblahblah, blah."

Olaf and I looked at each other, rolled our eyes, and just knew it was going to be one of those days.

Shady Vegas

Almost two years ago my parents moved to Vegas. Yeah! They now lived only six hours away versus the 25+ hours we had to drive to visit them when they lived in Indiana. We could actually go visit them a few times a year. I was pretty excited.

I refused to go and visit them in the summer. I've been to Vegas in the summer and it's a bit too warm for my comfort. I can barely deal with Utah's heat and it's probably 20 degrees cooler here. So, for fall break in October we went to visit my parents.

We had a lot of fun and did a few things. The last night there Olaf's good friend who lives in Vegas brought his family to meet us all for dinner. We had a good time eating and playing around. Their little three-year-old is adorable and my boys loved playing with him.

After dinner my parents opted to go home since they were tired, my children have that affect on others not used to rambunctious boys. We went down to the Old Part of Vegas. It was quite entertaining. There were some Jesus Freaks with big signs about how we're all going to burn in Hell if we don't Repent and get Saved Right Now. There was a saxophone player with a drunk couple dancing to his music. There was other performers of various types all around. And the best part was the light show on the ceiling, or roof top, of the avenue. It was pretty neat and the kids loved it. Then we went and checked out the remodel of the Golden Nugget. The swimming pool was pretty cool. There is a big Shark Tank in the middle of the pool. And the best part of it is the 30-foot waterslide anyone can ride right through the middle of the shark tank. Almost makes you want to stay in Old Vegas. The kids sure wanted to stay there and try the waterslide out for themselves.

Afterwards we decided to get some of the best frozen yogurt on town. It's a small shop run by someone from somewhere else. You can only pay in cash and you have to risk your life to find the place. We followed Olaf's friend all through Vegas. We kept turning at corners and I swear we drove in a few circles. But he swore he knew where we were going. And since I don't live there and he does I had to kinda trust him. At one point in the ride Olaf remarked, "I think we've driven through the shadiest parts of Vegas!"

To which Middle Child replied, "I noticed the lights were dimmer on those last few streets."

After we got done laughing so hard we couldn't drive and it was good we didn't have any frozen yogurt because it would have landed all over the place in our hysterical laughter (to which he just couldn't figure out what was so funny) we wittily replied to his naive comment, "It's cuz no one wants to be seen coming in and out of the places on those blocks."

Sky Diving

Come to find out Baby has been teaching the younger boys in our neighborhood fun stunts. Yesterday a friend told me about her 4-year-old and his adventures in trying out Baby's cool stunts.

My friend was on a business call when her boy comes in sobbing, obviously hurt, and carrying a plastic bag. "What's wrong little man?"

Sobbing, "I jumped out the window of the playhouse." Let me tell you the playhouse is Utah's version of a tree house since we rarely have any trees large enough for tree houses. So her 4-year-old jumped probably 8-10 feet to the ground.

"Why would you do that?" she asked baffled as to why her boy would jump that far.

"Baby said if I got a plastic bag I could parachute out the window," he replied, choking between sobs.

"Did you see him do that or did he just tell you about it?" she asked.

"He just told me I could. I just wanted to parachute!" She hugged him and laughed.

And then she tried to teach him the lesson about how Boys Love to Talk Things Up and Don't Believe Everything You Hear, you know, little boy locker room talk.

Middle Child - the title alone tells you all you need to know

My Middle Child is the quintessential Middle Child. He reads this blog and absolutely loves it when I blog about him. Whenever I write something witty for an 11-year-old he gets all silly and acts witty for the next two or three days, trying to get me to write about him. It really gets annoying to always have him answer the phone this way. (Yes, click those bolded words to see how he acts on a regular basis.) He is always screaming for attention, especially in the way he acts all shy when he does get noticed. He knows people will try to draw him out, therefore paying him more attention. Whenever he gets a good grade on a test he calls me to let me know so I can laud him with praises, which I do cuz he's usually missing half the assignments leading up to the test so I don't really know if he's ready or not. And this is characteristic of Middle Children, starting and not finishing things, wreaking havoc on my high expectations of his schooling.

But being the Middle Child he has learned some skills that the others haven't. He has mastered non-agressive strategies to get what he wants. At Olaf's Christmas party he and Baby won a Nintendo DS. Now Middle Child had worked hard one summer and saved enough money to buy himself a DS, about four years ago. But this was a brand-new, shiny, red DS! After the party was over and the DS prize was secured he went to work on Baby. By the time we had gotten home he had talked Baby into believing how Wonderful! and Great! the old, scratched screen, missing hinge, DS was. Baby was all set to own the old one and let Middle Child have the new one all to himself. He is the master at negotiation.

We often wonder if he will be an attorney when he grows up. When I'm not upset, I'm not an Absolute person. I don't believe in Always and Never. But whenever I make any kind of statement he always responds with "What if. . ." Augh! It drives me crazy! I'm not caring about What If's when I tell him that no Aliens have been found in our solar system or that he has Guitar class at 6pm. After so many What if's I have to tell him "I don't entertain What If's anymore!" He stops for about a half hour and then starts up again.

Another aspect of Middle Child Syndrome is creativity. Middle Child is quite artsy and creative, by our family's standards. By anyone else's standards we would fail miserably. But this child likes acting and artsy projects. The picture at the beginning is of a spaceship he made. I found out about the project the night before it was due on accident from my best friend. Every year since her son and mine started school she would call me to ask me how we were progressing on a project for school and I would be completely clueless about any project! For this particular project he had to make something that reminded him of his State that he reported on earlier that year, which happened to be Nevada. The guidelines were 1) It had to be smaller than the child, 2) Have fun, and 3) Have fun! Those are really helpful. Don't get me started on school projects, hate 'em with a passion! If any of you know he loves Aliens so we decided to make something reminding him of the famous Area 51. Middle Child and another friend had decided recently that when they grew up they wanted to work at Area 51 so they could see all the aliens we had caught. So naturally, that was what he chose. So the night before I am at the store buying glitter glue and paper plates and bowls in order to make the spaceship. He made half that night and fininshed it in the morning in the nick of time for school. It wasn't dry, so he had to be careful. But he was so proud. And once again, a spaceship is unusual so he would be drawing attention to himself!

After this post the next few days are going to be torturous when he answers the phone.

The Epitome of Randomness

My boys on a drive home from Barry's.

Middle Child: Do you wanna hear the dumbest joke?

Me: Not really. (I get questions like this on a regular basis, not a monthly or weekly basis, not even a daily basis, but more like an hourly basis.)

Baby: That star looks like it's falling. (pause and stare) Yes, it definitely looks like it's falling. Please don't fall in the United States!

Middle Child: It's a good thing that when the sun goes out we'll still have eight minutes of light. Did you know that the nearest star is 400,000 light years away? Pluto has 12 moons.

Me: I didn't know Pluto was still a planet or that it had moons. They must not have been discovered when I was in school.

Middle Child: Yes, Pluto is a dwarf planet and it has twelve moons. I read that on a report a girl did at school today.

Baby: (still staring at night sky) Whatever you do, don't fall in the United States, falling star!

Middle Child: Did you know that you have to exercise for at least two hours a day in space? Otherwise your bones will incinerate. But you will grow taller because your spinal cord with get thinner and longer.

Me: (turning a corner) Wow.

Middle Child: Did you know that giraffes have seven bones in their necks? Humans also have seven bones.

Baby: Wow, if I could be an animal that lived around lions, I would be a giraffe.

Middle Child: Did you know that giraffes have the same amount of bones in their neck as humans? Those must be some long bones.

Baby: Maybe I would just be a lion.

Middle Child: So human beings are homo sapiens. Homo means human, right?

Me: (distractedly) Um, yeah.

Middle Child: So sapiens means being. You know what an alien is called? Hobo Sapiens!

Me: Do aliens ride trains around like hobos? (Middle Child has an incredible fascination with Hobos from the Depression, the ones that rode on trains. I was so proud to tell him my Grandpa rode the trains for a little while, not long, but long enough for Middle Child to gain a greater appreciation of him.)

Middle Child: Um, no. The easiest constellation to find is Phoenix. (looking at a constellation map of the night sky.)

Me: No, I believe the Big Dipper is.

Middle Child: (snickering) Yeah, I know.

For anyone who doesn't know, Barry's (a local burger joint) is less than two miles from our house, meaning less than a five minute drive. But my children are masters at how to fill time with random snippets of conversation.

Christmas Eve & Other Adventures

Every year we have a Christmas Eve party with the paternal relatives of Olaf's. It's always a lot of fun and the only time the whole family is organized to get together and visit. I love this tradition and it has been going on for several generations. Usually Santa comes but this year his invitation wasn't sent out soon enough, so he made other plans. But it was still great to see people we don't see very often, if not since last Christmas Eve Party.

Our drive home was quite adventurous though. We told the boys they could open a present at home since Santa hadn't come and given them a present this year.

Middle Child: Can we pick our own presents to open?

Me: No, I'll pick them out.

Baby: So you're kidding, we get to pick our own presents, right?

Me: I think I'll pick your presents.

Olaf: Or you can wait til tomorrow.

Baby: Christmas is tomorrow! I can hardly wait!! It feels like 5 more days it's so far away!

Me: Why don't you try to fall asleep? The sooner you fall asleep the sooner tomorrow comes! (even though I've been telling them this for years they don't seem to believe me and never take my advice.)

Middle Child: I'm so thirsty! Can I have a drink?

Me: We didn't bring you anything to drink. You should have drank more at the party.

Middle Child: I had plenty to drink! I'm dying!

Baby: You will pull over at the next gas station and get me and Middle Child a drink!

Middle Child: Even if it's only water!

Olaf to me: Love how they're telling us what to do like they control us.
Olaf to them: You will make it home just fine.

Baby: So we get to pick our own presents?

Me: When do you want to open them?

Baby: You're just kidding, right?

Middle Child: My stomach is getting groggy!

A little later, Middle Child: My brain is taking 80% of the water out of my body, it's dry.

Olaf: New symptoms for dehydration. Now I know what else to look for.

Baby: Christmas is taking forever!

Baby: Mamma Mia!

Me: Where did you learn that? (I promise he hasn't seen the movie)

Baby: Whenever I lose Donkey Kong says it.

Olaf: Yeah, didn't you know Mario & Luigi are Italian?!?!?

Middle Child: Dad, pull over and let Mom drive. Then we'll get home sooner!

Me: Dad is driving fast enough! We're almost home anyway, well at least more than halfway.

This is a small sampling of our conversation on the hour long drive home from Salt Lake City.

We Wish You All a Merry Christmas!

Like Mother, Like Son

Today I asked Middle Child if he liked the Eragon series of books.

"Umm, I only read a little of the first one," he replied.

"Why?" I asked, quickly followed by Olaf's "Why?" This Middle Child of ours has a penchant for reading books several times over.

"Umm, umm, umm, I just didn't really get into it," he explained hesitantly.

"Why?" we asked again. "Did you not like it?"

"Umm, no, not really," he told us.

"Why?" we were flabbergasted! We hadn't met a book this kid didn't like, until today.

"Umm, umm, I just didn't like the writing," he tried to explain to us.

Olaf burst out laughing! "Oh, I've never heard that from anyone else in this family!"

Middle Child decided that maybe it was ok to not like a book. "Hee, hee! I guess that sounds like a certain girl in my family that isn't my grandmas or aunts or cousins or sister-in-laws."

"What?" we both asked, a little surprised about the last one.