The Morning Rules

My niece and nephew came over early this morning, and I watched them the whole day.  I didn't want it to be too crazy with extra kids, so I sat all of them down and told them some rules.  "No fighting, no accidents in underwear, no yelling, no being mean to each other, no going downstairs or outside without asking, no locking doors, and you have to clean up your toys."  A minute later, as I was helping Avery get dressed, I realized that she needed a new pull-up.  "Avery," I said, exasperated, "you forgot to go on the potty!"  "But Mom, that happened BEFORE you said the rules."  (Like that made it all better....)

While trying to work with my nephew on learning to read, we tried getting him to sound out several words.  The other kids were playing and laughing in the other room.  He sat there, patiently cooperating, but he wasn't totally focused.  After about five minutes, he looked away from the letters and said wistfully, "I sure wish I could play now."  We gave up. 

Preston gave Nathan, the nephew, some Nilla wafers.  Apparently, Nathan had never had this treat before.  He tried his first one and exclaimed, "Mmmmmmm, yummy, delicious, tasty, wonderful, mmmmmmm, so good and yummy!"  Preston looked at him with a serious expression, and said, "I knew you were going to say that."

The other day, Avery confided to me with a giggle, "Mommy, Daddy wants me to stay three forever, but I'm really going to turn four.  I'm not going to just stay three."