Clever Boy

I teach the Sunbeams (3 & 4 year olds) in church. A few weeks ago in class I was passing around a bag with an apple in it and the kids were trying to guess what was inside without looking. After Jace had a turn with it, he looked at me and discreetly said, "Why don't you just tell me what it is?" - and then he winked at me! I couldn't believe it! He not only knew how to wink, but he knew how to use it to his advantage!

Bum-shaker

Yesterday at dinner, Carter was sort of standing up in his seat saying, "shake-a-bum-bum, shake-a-bum-bum" while he shook his little bum.
I'd never seen him do this before so I asked him, "Where did you learn that?"
He said, "At my Grandma's house"
I asked, "Grandma Brown?"
He said, "yeah, my Grandma"
"Who taught it to you?"
"My Grandpa."
Apparently Dad has a bum-shakin' side of him that we've never seen. :)

My Nurturing Boy

The other day, I had to use the bathroom and Carter followed me in, closing the door behind him. He then turned off the light and said, "I-I-I-I-It'ch awight (he's going through a stuttering phase), Me hewe. Don't be cawed." --(translation: It's alright, I'm here, don't be scared). He's always looking out for me.

Too Much Information

Max and Ella were sick and had diarrhea all last week. They both finally fully recovered yesterday. So today I took Max to get his hair cut. He was being especially good and very talkative to the hair dresser. At one point she asked me, "How do you feel. . . " (asking me about the length in one spot) when Max said, "Better! I have real poopies now!"

Cailia's new nickname

Today Xander, Cailia and I were all eating dinner, when Xan looked over at Cailia and said "Hi Hittie, that's your new nickname because you hit everyone!" Cailia has been getting a bit violent lately, and Xander usually takes the brunt of it without ever hitting her back, usually he just falls to the floor and cries. I don't think he realizes he's bigger than she is! I did just realize though that anytime she hits someone and it's not on the face or head, she's usually trying to give them a "good game" (i.e. smacking them on the bum like football players do), so it's not all out of the need to assert her power. Although, I've been trying to ween her the past few weeks, and the first few times she tried to nurse and I told her we weren't going to do that anymore, she got a defiant look on her face and tried to hit me, so sometimes she does just want to show us she's the one in charge.

Sounds Good

Max and Ella love listening to Jack Johnson. Their favorite song is "La Da" (aka Bubbletoes--the chorus is "La da da da da da"). When we get in the car, Ella often requests it. (Max has stopped requesting it--just to be different.) There's one part where Jack says, "Mmmm" between phrases. One time when we were listening to it and he said "Mmmm," Ella followed up with, "Mmmm. Yummy."

Pancakes

Jen wrote this a while ago, and I guess it never posted. So I'll post it now.

Saturday I made a whole bunch of pancakes but accidently used baking soda instead of baking powder. They tasted horrible! The kids were quite dissappointed since they were really looking forward to such a nice breakfast. When I finally figured out what I had messed up, I explained to Nathaniel that I forgot "Kaiser Natron" was baking soda, not baking powder. He yelled "Curse you German language!"