Kids Lately

The boys were saying, "Boo-yah" over and over, and it was starting to get on my nerves.  "Don't say that anymore, boys," I said.  Then I heard, "Boo-yah" again.  "I said to stop saying that."  Preston quickly piped in, "That was Carter!"  "I know it was Carter."  Preston asked, "How did you know it was Carter?  Because it was a different voice?"

The kids were supposed to be doing their list of chores on Saturday morning.  Preston was a little distracted with his toys.  "Preston," I said, "you need to finish cleaning your room."  "How do you know what's on my list?  Daddy wrote it."  "I saw your list, and I know you didn't finish cleaning your room yet."  He replied, "Well, if Daddy wrote it, then why are you interested in it?"

Avery went to her pre-kindergarten check-up today.  I was telling her that if she was brave when she got poked that she could have a treat after.  She replied, "Okay, but I don't even know what kind of band-aid I'm going to get."

She was brave.  "Was I even as brave as Carter?" she asked.

Carter had some testing done a couple of months ago.  They were checking him for ADHD and Asperger's and testing his IQ.  When I had the follow-up interview, the lady said that he didn't have either condition, "but he does have some strange tics I noticed.  People who have IQ's as high as Carter's are just going to have some weird movements and quirks.  They just can't contain themselves." 

Great.  I'm going to have the kid who makes weird faces and does weird things with his hands for no apparent reason.  Like it's not enough that I have the kid who stays in from recess sometimes to draw robots...

Uncle Chicken

Preston:  Mom, is your hair short or long now?
Me:  I don't know. Medium length, I guess.
Preston:  Well, when are you going to grow it long again?  You know, so you can be a fashion star...
Me:  I'm not going to be one of those.
Preston:  Well, you could be a fashion star if you tried.

And to bring me down a notch...

Preston:  Look at this pretty picture I drew of you, Mom.  Oh wait, I forgot to draw the little dots on your face.

While watching Tangled, my nephew commented, "They should have made her have pierced ears."  "Oh, so you like girls with pierced ears?"  Said only the way a nine-year-old boy who is embarrassed can say it, he answered with a big "Hmmmph."

My niece was playing with a doll.  "Aunt Melissa, my baby can't say your name yet, so she's just going to call you Uncle Chicken."

Me:  My brother wants to know if we'll come visit him if they move to Germany.
Bill:  Why not?  Half our stuff has already spent three months there anyway! 

(When we moved from Colorado to New Mexico about eight years ago, our stuff took a little detour to Germany.)