Seven

One evening a month or so back, we were having dinner at Culver's.  I don't remember what started the conversation, but Ray informed us that 7 is a pretty special number.

"For every 7 kids, you are guaranteed a girl."

"Huh?"

"For every 7 kids, you are guaranteed a girl."

"Really?  What makes you say that?"

"That's just how it works in big families.  So you only have to have 1 more and it would be a girl."

"Well, I'm still not sure where that come's from, but would mean 3 more kids in our family.  We have 6 people, but only 4 kids."

"Oh yea.  That's what I meant."

"Hmm, that's a lot of kids.  What would we drive?"

"Well, I guess you'll have to wait a few years and then I can get another Yukon and drive some of them for you!"

Juvie

I'm sure by now, most of my readers would have to agree that Sam is a free spirit.  He is SO his own person.  He also had a bit of an independent streak to him.  This being said, you can understand why we are occasionally late for things.  You'd think by now I'd allot 5 extra minutes for him to brush his own teeth.  Oh, and 5 more to put on his shoes.  And 5 for him to buckle his own car seat.  Well, you get the picture.  It can be incredibly frustrating to find out that even after giving him extra time to find out he has not done the task he was suppose to but instead find him engaged in some sort of distraction.

The other evening we were about a block from our destination when Sam hollers from the way back for Michael to stop the truck immediately.  "Dad!  STOP!  I'm not finished buckling yet!"

"Oh, Dad's going to go to jail now!' commented Rob.

"No, Sam's going to juvie!  That's kid jail!" chimed in Ray.

I'm not sure what part of this bothered me the most, the fact that Sam was not completely fastened in or that my 8 year old knows about juvie.  Oh well, I guess back to double checking everyone's buckles for the one and prayer is about all can do for the other.

Infinity and Beyond

"I love you"

"I love you more."

"I love you the most."

"I love you to the moon."

"I love you to the moon and back."

"I love you to Pluto and back."

"I love you infinity!"

This has been an ongoing dialogue at our house for years.  The other day, Sam got the last one in on me and I thought I had a clever response, "I love you to infinity and beyond!" (Of course spoken in a Buzz Lightyear manner.)

I was a little surprised that instead of giggles, hugs or kisses, I got the following response, "Mom, infinity's not even a number.  It's an idea.  You can't have more than infinity."

Thank you 3 year old Sam for putting your mother (who earned her master's degree by studying what else, mathematics education), back in her place.

5 Quarters

"Did you flush the toilet?  Did you wash your hands?"  These are the questions I ask multiple times a day when I see one of my boys tearing out of the bathroom.  Whether they readily admit it or not, the answer is almost always no.  I do not understand this.  I have tried drilling it into them, beating them over the head with it again and again, but still, they "forget" these important steps in sequence of using voiding themselves.  Time and time again I turn them back around so they can head right back in there and complete the process.

Boys being boys, they have of course tried to figure out how it is that I know whether or not if they have indeed done these things without even listening to their verbal responses.  They seem to be truly stumped as to how I just know.  Of course, listening to hear for a flush followed by a rush of water is one way, but my boys aren't stupid and they figured that one out early.  They were truly amazed the first time someone turned on the sink but neglected to wash that mom caught on.  They of course then moved on to the wetting without washing of the hands trick, but somehow Mom still knew.

In the not so distant past Rob went in and out of the bathroom rather quickly.  When asked about flushing and washing (knowing the response should be affirmative and negative), Rob's word were quickly yes and yes, but his eyes told a different story.  Dad happened to be closer and made a move closer to Rob when Rob balled his hands up and said, "You can't small my hands."

Michael stepped closer and zoom, off ran Rob, "Only if you can catch me!" said a giggly blur.

"Mom! You should get this on video.  If you posted it on Youtube, you'd already have 5 quarters by now."

"Huh?  What do you mean Ray?"

"For every 1,000 hits or something like that, Youtube pays you a quarter.  You could make a lot of money that way!"

Don't Wake the Baby

Theo is not much a napper.  I imagine it's because our house is somewhat busy and he doesn't want to miss out on anything.  Or maybe it's because every time he drifts off someone startles him with a lightsaber, car motoring, or a fight over an electronic.  The fact that every time I lay him down he is accosted by the baby mauler Rob doesn't help either. One of the few times he may nap is if he falls asleep in transport and is left in his carseat.  Even this is rare, but welcome occasion.  So you can imagine my dilemma when left with the options to either wake the baby or deal with the uncomfortable fullness a nursing mom sometimes has when baby doesn't eat on schedule.  

"I wish Theo would wake up so he would eat.  I don't have the heart to wake him myself." I said on the side to Michael as I battled with this choice.

I'm not sure how he heard it because he was engrossed in some activity on his own, but Rob hear my plea and enthusiastically shouted with an ear to ear smile,  "I can do it!!!" as he set off to smother his baby brother in kisses and sure enough, wake him up.  What a helpful kid.