A Daily Dose of Mischief

#4 was asking about names today. He asked me what his second name is and I told him and explained to him that his middle name was named after his Daddy. He then asked what Daddy's second name is. I told him, and explained that Daddy's middle name was named after Grandpa L, who is Daddy's Daddy. #4's eyes got big and he said. Daddy is a Daddy, AND Grandpa is a Daddy? I said yes. Then he asked me, "So who is our Grandma then?" This began a discussion about how Grandpa L and Grandma used to be married, and they had four kids. Then I had to explain that they decided they didn't want to be married anymore, so they went their separate ways and Grandma eventually married Grandpa D. #4 thought about this for a while and then said. "So when I marry Kajsa , I won't like her anymore?" ( Kajsa is a friend of his from church who he has plans to marry "when she is a grown up, and I am a grown up." I explained to him that when people g...

Sometimes church can often be somewhat (or very) boring for little boys. (I will admit that it can sometimes be boring for people of all ages...boredom does not discriminate.) During our sacrament meeting which usually lasts a little over an hour, we usually let the boys color or draw quietly after the sacrament has been passed. Today most of our family are still trying to recover from the latest plague going around town, so it was just #2 and myself at church. #1 and #2 like to play hangman at church, and I will admit that I sometimes enjoy a game of it with them as well. Only instead of hangman its more like...wrecking yard. #1 really enjoys Volkswagens , especially bugs-so instead of the gallows we draw the big crane and magnet of a wrecking yard, and instead of a poor little stick figure we draw the parts of a VW bug awaiting its execution (This includes drawing the VW symbol on each hubcap so you can imagine how rarely we actually end up with a wrecked bug at the end). Today sin...

Sounds like the title to an educational film from the 70's doesn't it? Actually it was inspired by a conversation I had with #5 today. #5: Food gets to your brain. Me: How does the food get to your brain? #5: It goes through a crack. Me: Where is your brain? #5: Its tiny...YOUR brain is big. Me: Oh. Where is your brain? #5: In your head. Me: And how does the food get there? #5: You just chew it, and it goes there. This educational moment was brought to you by smarties candy, which ironically is what #5 was eating when we had this conversation.

Tonight was our Cub Scout Blue and Gold dinner. The theme was Aloha, and as part of the evening the scouts got to participate in a game of Pictionary with topics that had to do with Hawaii. #1 had to draw a volcano. Of course this was easy for the kids to figure out, and #1 was very disappointed that he didn't get to finish his drawing. "I wanted to draw all the people getting burned to a crisp!" Of course everyone looked at me to see if I was glowing with pride.

#2 was complaining today about how much bad luck he has in his young life. I tried to get him to count his blessings, and we talked about how many great opportunities he has. He really loves to play games on the computer for instance, and I pointed out how there are some kids whose families don't have a computer, or don't have as many great CD-Roms as he does, or whose parents won't even let them play on the computer. I then explained that I didn't even really learn how to use a computer until I was a grown up. I was sure that this would make him think about how blessed he is. His response was: So THATs why I am better at playing computer games than you.

#3 gets very into the idea of things that he likes. If he thinks something is cool he will do as much with it as he can. So last week, when Valentine's Day was approaching, he started bringing home a couple of homemade Valentines for me each day. I also found out that he was making Valentines each day for the aide in his classroom, and that he asked a little girl that sits near him to be his Valentine. In fact one day he came home with I love (only it was a heart instead of the word love) K....(her whole name of course) written on the palm of his hand. I asked him about it, and his reply was that he is supposed to love everyone because everyone is his family spiritually (wise words from a six year old). A few days later he came home from school and walked up to me. He didn't say anything, just held up his hand with the palm facing me. There on his palm was written. I heart Mom. I feel special! That kid can be a real sweetie sometimes.

#5 likes chocolate covered raisins. I am personally not a big fan of them. But when his Grandpa M left some at our house (because he is apparently not a big fan of them either) #5 tried them and liked them. We never told him what they were, so when he wants some he comes up to us with the jar and says. "Can I have some raisin beans?" And he came up with that all on his own. I guess they do look a little bit like beans when they are covered in chocolate.

So what if he doesn't know that you chose to sleep next to him so that he would be between you and whatever monsters might be lurking in the night. (#4 is oblivious to the fact that #3 chose where to sleep tonight so that #4 would be strategically placed to get eaten by the monsters first. I always took great comfort in sleeping in the bottom bunk as a child. I knew that if a scary creature came in it was likely to be big, and it would take more work to bend down and get me on the bottom bunk than it would take to simply swipe my big sister from the top bunk and eat her instead.

Yes, we know that Christmas is over...but sometimes we like to listen to Christmas music anyhow. Today the song We Three Kings was playing. #2 started singing along. He sang one of the lines like this... Field and fountain, MORON mountain. I asked him if he said moron mountain on purpose. He said yes, because he didn't know the words there. I am not sure whether to be glad that he didn't think it really said moron mountain, and I guess it shouldn't surprise me that he thought it would be a funny substitution. This is the kid, after all that takes every opportunity to make cutting the cheese jokes.

I gave some of the boys haircuts the other day, as you may have read in my other blog . #5 ended up with a crew cut after an unfortunate incident that involved him turning his head at just the right moment for me to buzz half of his bangs off by accident. (It was really his fault...really!) Last night he came to me with a cute little pouty face and told me in a soft little voice that his hair was not growing back fast enough. He seemed pretty concerned. When I told him it would grow back I had no idea he would think it would grow back in two days!

Today I was talking to the boys about having a little family celebration of the Chinese New Year. At first they were excited, but then #2 started to look really depressed. "That means we have to CLEAN the HOUSE!" he said in a whiny voice. "Chinese people clean their house on Chinese New Year!" (He was almost crying about it) #3 started to get upset. "WE aren't Chinese!" He yelled. "We aren't even CLOSE to Chinese." Gee...I was just thinking we would eat chinese food and have some fortune cookies (yes, I know fortune cookies are really not Chinese). Oh well. I guess we will just have to clean the house.

Tonight at dinner we were discussing if #1 and #2 look like brothers. (#1 tries to hug #2 when they see each other at recess, and #2 is embarassed by it-I pointed out that other kids might not know they are brothers and D thinks they look enough alike that everyone could tell). We were listing things that are different about them, such as...#1's hair is darker, #2 is paler, #1 has thicker eyebrows, #2 has a cleft in his chin, #1's nose is narrower and pointier, #1 is about a foot taller. About this point #2 chimed in and casually added "I have a better sense of humor" to the list.

Waiting in the car after church for D (aka Dad, Daddy etc) and two of the boys to come out after church #1 reported that he was bored. "So am I." I said. #3 piped in, "Moms and Dads are ALWAYS bored." "What do you mean by that?" I asked. "Mom's and Dad's are always bored, because they never have anything fun to do." I never realized until today just how bad I have it as a grown up. He did try to comfort me by saying I could try making my teddy bears (saved from childhood and pretty thrashed by my boys-Poor Georgette is even missing a leg!) talk. I'll have to give it a try.

Tonight at dinner we had a little tongue burning incident. #1 aka J burned his tongue on his hot chocolate in his eagerness to drink it before it was cooled down. This resulted in his being upset that his tongue hurt, which resulted in me giving him an otter pop out of the freezer to help it feel better. #5 aka C decided he wanted an otter pop too (he even tried saying his tongue hurt to get one). I told him he could have one if he ate all of his breakfast burrito for dinner. He toyed with his food for a while, then slid his plate so it was right next to #1's plate and announced that he was done and had eaten all his food. "See?" he gestured at his empty spot at the table. Of course since we had seen him move his plate and since we aren't total idiots, we called his bluff. A little while later, he went to his Dad and told him he was done eating. Strangely he was holding something behind his back. Daddy asked him where his food was "In my tummy" was ...

We have noticed that #4 has somewhat of a speech impediment. Many little kids sound that way when they are toddlers, and we thought he might outgrow it. Now that he is five I have been noticing more and more that he has trouble making some sound combinations. Today for instance, he told me that he flipped in the bathroom. I was confused for a few moments, until I figured out that he was saying that he slipped in the bathroom. He is perfectly capable of saying an S sound, but put it with an L and he just can't do it. Sleep is fleep...slipped is flipped, etc. I commented on this to my husband, and he was curious about hearing #4 say some words. He wanted him to say Silly Sally, (which I knew he would be able to say perfectly) but #4 was feeling under pressure and didn't want to say it. We tried a little encouragement, then a little bribery, but #4 wasn't having any of it. Finally he said he didn't want to say it while we were looking at him, so in our own suppor...

Today was a particularly stressful day for me and I was pretty frazzled by dinner time. I was just looking forward to the boys going to bed so I could have some peace and quiet. As they were getting ready for bed I was playing a computer game online, trying to relax and #5 aka C came and asked to sit on my lap. I wasn't really in the mood, I just wanted to have some time without any kids or anyone else bothering me, so I told him to go ask Daddy to sit on HIS lap. So off he trotted, and he came back a few minutes later and said. "I asked Dad and he said it was okay for me to sit on your lap." And of course he said it with a perfectly sweet and serious tone. Either I am not a good communicator, or he is just too smart for me.