The Moving Animals

Yesterday I came home from work and the kids were waiting for me a the back door, with very serious looks on their faces. Dressed in jammies (already) with wet hair from the pool and rosy cheeks from standing by the fire, they stood there with big eyes telling me they were scared. Scared of what, I asked. Our animals are moving, said Asher. Then, in turn, they began telling me of how their stuffed animals had a way of moving from here to there without anyone moving them. I tried to explain that they couldn't move, that it was impossible and that someone had to have done it. They denied that outright and I couldn't convince them otherwise.

So, we were getting ready for bed, and Jamie told Avery to bring all her stuffed animals from the living room (where there was a pile of about 20 of them) and take them into her room. She clearly didn't want to either because she was scared of them at this point or she was being lazy. So, I promised her that she could leave them there all night long, and that if we woke up in the morning that if ANY of them had moved at all that I would clean them up for her. If they hadn't moved, no TV before school AND she had to clean them up. She agreed. I made Jamie pinky promise me not to move them anywhere because the kids really did seem scared- although it would have been kind of fun to mess with them a little.  

This morning we got up and thankfully none of them had moved. Except the horse. The freakin' horse. I have NO idea how it moved, and I'm not even sure it did but it totally freaked them out. And now Avery is trying to convince me *I* have to clean them up. I said that Charley probably moved it and she said that no matter how it got moved, it moved so I need to clean it up.  I asked her if I really had to and she said "1) the horse moved, and 2) the horse moved, and 3) the horse MOVED so yes you have to." I couldn't quit laughing, because I have no idea how she learned to enumerate things like that.

Needless to say, I'm headed home in a couple hours and I imagine I'll be cleaning up a boatload of stuffed animals off the floor.  But who knows, maybe by then they'll have made their way to her bedroom all by themselves.

Space exploration on hold

My Asher... the boy who has given us the revelation that monsters live in Africa and the primary diet of skunks is coconuts.. continually cracks us up.  Just this morning he asked me how many days until we went up in a rocketship.  The funny thing was is that he's always asking how many days til Halloween, how many days til we go to the zoo, how many days til we see Granny and Papa, and he asked about our rocketship trip just as though it was as ordinary as these other things.

Asher's personality

I love Asher's sense of humor. He's not only very silly, but he's a right out there kind of guy, and it cracks us up. The other day he was looking for my iPod, on which he loves to play Angry Birds. I don't mind him playing in the car, or when we're waiting for something but I don't love him playing it when there are plenty of other, more stimulating things for him to be doing. So, sometimes I take it and 'hide' it from him. The other day, he asked me if I knew where it was. Well, it was on a ledge right behind him, so I took it and acted like I took it right out of his ear. He looked at me like I was magical, and asked me how I did it. I smugly shrugged and told him I could do just about anything. The next day he was looking for it again (the fact that he needs to look for just about everything is fodder for another post), and after I repeatedly told him I didn't know where it was he came close to me and asked me to look in his ear! Of course, I couldn't resist pulling it off the shelf again and pulling it out, only to hear him tell me that he KNEW it was in there. As funny as it was (I'm chuckling three days later), it does speak to his excitement and absolute trust that he has in what he sees. It's made it easy for us to trick him into thinking he has a magical finger that can turn the television on and off, as well as windshield wipers and even our car (thanks to the automatic starter). His enthusiasm and bright smile make even the silliest things seem special. We are truly blessed to have such a funny (and smart) little guy.

Skunks eat coconuts

Last night I was reading to Asher a book in which a skunk was making away from a picnic with a hamburger. When I asked Asher if he thought skunks really ate hamburgers he told me that no, everyone knows skunks eat coconuts. Ha! Where he got that I have no idea, but I sure thought it was clever. I swear, he's always thinking and I think he is going to have an awesome sense of humor when he grows up. He's already telling us how things are magic and teasing us about one thing or another.

Kids are funny

I'm going to have to start writing more often about the funny things my kids say. What's even more funny is that they're so innocent and honest when they say these things. The other night at dinner I said something that was uncharacteristic (not even sure what that was, now) and Jamie said 'who are you and what did you do with my wife?' After about five minutes Avery leaned over and asked me if I had married daddy. I told her yes, why did she ask. She said, 'then why does daddy wonder where his wife is?' And little Asher! Poor bubs, for some reason, has been waking up scared in his room. So, he comes into our room every night in the middle of the night and sleeps with us. It's not bothered me much til lately (honestly, the straw was yesterday morning when I woke up with his foot in my pajamas) so I told him that he really had to start sleeping in HIS bed. He has a nice new bed in a big room that's perfect for him. And there's only room in mom and dad's bed for two people. He looked from me to Jamie and said 'then why don't one of YOU leave?'

Up your nose

Asher has had a runny nose for some time now. Friday Avery had a runny nose, and it went into Saturday. Saturday the right side of her nose was so plugged up she couldn't get any air in or out. She even complained of it hurting her. Sunday she was playing at the table. She failed to sit on her butt like I told her too and she ended up falling off and hitting her head pretty hard. Well, this started up the tears and the snot flowing pretty hard. I took the chance to have her blow her nose really hard, thinking it would help clear it out. She blew, and out came a big ponytail tie. Unbelievable! Little toot was laughing with me through her tears, and called me silly when I asked her if one of Asher's trucks was up there too.