The Bestest Place

We had an adventure at Niagara Falls on Memorial Day.

We enjoyed a picnic with my extended family and explored the Three Sisters Islands.

The American side has beautiful areas to walk, climb, play and enjoy for families.

It is one of my most favorite places to go. (If you have children you will know that there can and seemingly must be many "favorites".)

It made an impression on Nathan who is used to playing in Grandma's little backyard creek. He exclaimed, "Niagara Falls: That's SOME creek!"

Nathanism

"If a building has a lot of broken windows then that means it's a warehouse."

- Nathan (age 5)

Lost in Translation

On Sunday during Kids Church, the children were playing Follow the Leader.

SomeKid was the leader and began hopping. Nathan did NOT hop; he just ran. Ran and ran. Belinda told him that it was time for hopping because he was supposed to do what the leader did.

Nathan delivered a big sigh then stated, "Aunt Belinda, I don't SPEAK hop."

Waiting AND Getting Shiny Teeth

It's a waiting kind of day over here. There is the waiting for my dad's surgery to be done and the waiting to hear how John's job interview is going/went. Just waiting.

Did you ever realize that when you say or write a word very often, it starts to sound and look strange? Maybe your words are different than mine. waiting. waeting. wating. whaeting. I think it's pretty cool that in the old days people just spelled a word however they thought it looked best and that they liked to be creative about it. Sure. Standardized spelling is nice but where's the creativity in it? Hm?

Okay. Enough weighting. (See? That spelling brings up a totally different meaning. Oh well.)

Here are the latest Nathanisms:

"I'm your hero."
"Welcome to my world!"
(This one is completely John's fault.)

"Mommy! My teeth are shiny! From wipes."
(This is a result of too much unattended time in the bathroom.)

Kids Are Snack Height

The Place: My parents' house.

The Time: Lunch time

The Occasion: Football playoffs

The Crime: Taco Theft

The Victim: Nathan

The Culprit: Jesse the dog

Soon after Nathan began eating his second taco, there was an outcry against Jesse.

"Jesse stole my taco! He ate it! He's a bad dog. He's a VERY bad dog!"

The kids tend to forget that they are at just the right level for Jesse to snatch their food right from their hands. It happens almost every time. Sometimes Jesse is sneaky about it. Other times he will nonchalantly walk by and just grab it and go. A lot of the time, they abandon their food for just a moment only to return and find it missing. Jesse steals food. It's what he does.

I asked Nathan about the incident so we could get all the facts straight.



He must have thought the story needed some embellishment.

Next time, Nathan, watch out for that dog, octopus, pipe food-snatching team!

Boogers and Sharks

Nathan was full of funny answers yesterday.

As I'm putting the pizza into the oven, Nathan asks me, "Are you making pizza for dinner?". "Yes, I am. Do you want to eat some pizza?" Then he says, "I'm not hungry anymore; I already ate!" So I ask, "Oh really, what did you eat?" Nathan replies, "Um... a booger...."

That must of been SOME booger. I think it was more likely the cookies he kept sneaking.

After dinner was NOT eaten and before the boys left for Wednesday evening church, Josiah tells me that he just flushed Nathan's underwear on accident. I start laughing. He looks at me and says, "No, I really did. I didn't know they were in there and I flushed them." I tried to pull off a rescue operation with the plunger but, man, they were GONE. This happened while I was commenting on Kate's blog so here's my instant reaction:

"Hey! Guess what? My toilet is awesome! A kid's pair of underwear just got flushed by accident and the toilet didn't even get clogged. So long, Super Hero briefs."

Yep. Nathan wasn't too thrilled. "I want my underwear back!", he whined. Sorry, dude, they aren't coming back.

Later, my friend let me on this: "Sarah...he's a funny one. This evening during class I asked him if he needed to go to the restroom. He said 'No, I told you I already went.' I said okay, just making sure. Then he said that he couldn't go in there...that there were sharks in the toilet. I said oh... well they have to go they can't stay there. What a funny kiddo. I do enjoy having him in class."

Sharks. I had not heard that one before. Where does he come up with these things?

Thankfully, if there are sharks in our toilet.... THEY DON'T STAND A CHANCE.

Consider the Ant

Heh heh heh heh. So after church last night, Josiah comes home and shows us the project they made in class. He made an ant and he made it "with fur on his back and his belly just like Daddy."

Don't you love it? I laughed and laughed....

And, no, I didn't ask what the purple squiggles are.

Day Camp

We have a tent set up in our backyard. Yep. It's a fairly big tent too. Our plan is to sleep overnight in the tent when the weather and our schedule cooperates. So far that hasn't happened so that will be another story for another day. Since we set it up we know that the tent is waterproof, roomy, and a great play area for the boys. John and I did have to make the rule that no animals are allowed inside though. Cairo and Milo are out of luck ... or more likely they are thankful that they won't be dragged into the tent at the whim of three young boys.

Josiah has been hoping for rain during the day so that he can play in the tent with the sound of rain all around. One day I was plagued with the question: "When is the rain going to start, Mom?" Darn you, Weatherman, for not being more accurate!

At last, we had a rainy afternoon while Isaac and Eli were here. The boys were so happy to go into the tent and out of the tent and into the tent that I had to give them a towel to use as a doormat for the tent. At one point, Isaac came to me and said, "That tent really freaks me out!" Really? Why is that? "That tent is NOT lightning proof! We could be struck by lightning!" Oh, I see. Well, it's just raining and not storming. Have you heard any thunder? "I think I did hear a couple thunders a while ago..." Don't worry, if it starts lightning, we'll all go inside the house. Then he doubtfully said, "Okay...", and it sounded like he planned to hold me to it.

The point of the story is that sometimes tents are freaky ... at least in the mind of a 6 year old.

Deductions of a Preschooler

In the midst of a baseball conversation this morning I was reminded of a story.

When Josiah was in Pre-K, a baseball player from our local team came to his school. The school let us know about it ahead of time so on that day I sent Josiah's Seawolves baseball cap and a baseball from the stadium with him to get autographed. The player was the shortstop. I don't know his name because the signature was illegible and I wasn't that familiar with the team. We just watch the games. Josiah was pleased to show Grandpa his signed hat and ball since he knows that "Grandpa really likes baseball." I will admit that I forgot about it for the most part after that.

One day, which must have been at least three months later, Josiah was drawing and scribbling. When I asked him what he was drawing he told me, "I'm writing in baseball language." Baseball language? What is my child talking about? Then I remembered the illegible scribble of a signature given by the Seawolves' shortstop. Eureka! Cursive and/or signatures = baseball language. It is a brilliant preschooler's deduction.

Nathanisms

Nathan and I had some special time together. As Nathan and I were leaving a store, he turns to me and asks, "Did you have fun?" Yes, I did. Thank you. Did you? "Yup!"

John and Nathan were watching golf yesterday. Nathan had a running commentary. This is a snippet: "Oop! It's gone. It went in the hole. Ah! He found it!"

So Funny

Recently, Josiah asked Daddy, "Why are you so furry?"

A naked Nathan comes into the living room this morning to get dressed and says this: "This is my peepee! My peepee is gonna hide in unwear (underwear) now."

Through Nathan's Eyes

As I was getting ready to go the other day, Nathan was curiously watching me apply my makeup. He asked, "What are you doing? Coloring your face?"

Honesty

As I'm working on a project, I hear Nathan behind me getting into stuff. I turn around to see what's going on and see boxes on the floor and he's still reaching for things. I asked him, "Nathan, what are you doing?" He responds honestly, "Making a mess."

Foreign Languages

Nathan is an early riser. I don't know where he gets that. I heard him opening my door this morning and I got up to put him back in bed. "Nathan, it's too early to get up. Stay in bed." I hear him fussing and whining for awhile but he quiets down in a bit and I fall back to sleep.

John wakes up and I hear a commotion. "NATHAN!" Rumblings... up and down the stairs... "Great," I think, "What did Nathan do?" I envision the neatly folded laundry from last night strewn about the house, or the refrigerator open and with food mushed and eggs broken on the floor, or maybe he flooded the house in his love of playing with water. John comes into our room and says in his disastrous voice that I must come see what happened. There is great foreboding. I walk downstairs and look into the bathroom where John is. The mess. "Oh. Well that will clean up." Nathan had gotten into the bathroom closet which is usually locked for just such a reason. He explored the intricacies of my make-up bag. Make-up was dumped into a pile. Foundation had been shaken out in ribbons of beige. Tampons had been released from their imprisonment. And Nathan smelled like my old perfume. It was a relief really after what I had imagined.... nothing at all like the story I hear of what John did as a child....

At little later, Josiah figured it out for us as I'm getting the boys dressed for church and getting breakfast out. He says, "Maybe Nathan speaks another language." "What?", I enquire. "Maybe in Nathan's language, STAY IN BED means HELLO." Maybe you're right, Josiah.

Potty Training

It's that time again! Time to start potty-training. I wish there was a switch that would instantly activate toilet skills.

This morning I said to Nathan, "Nathan, you're getting to be such a big boy now. Do you want to sit on the potty like a big boy?" He looks at me and says, "You stop it."

Hair Concerns

I gave Josiah a trim last night. Today is Picture Day at school so I wanted to make sure he was looking his best. As I'm trimming, he asks, "Are you making me bald? I don't want to look like Daddy!"

Nathan Quotes

I got a haircut this week. We were almost finished when Nathan came close, bent over and picked up a clip of my hair from the floor. "Oh no! It's broken?"

The New "Please"

"Can I have candy, Honey?"
"More water, Honey?"
Honey, ice cream, Honey?

This comes from Nathan. At 2 1/2 years old, he has observed that "honey" is the word that gets you things. Yep. Anytime Nathan wants something from me, it's honey this and honey that. Ahhh! They pick up on all the details, don't they?