Words of a Child

Deep Thinker and I had a great discussion the other night. He asked me if I believe in aliens.

I don’t like to confirm questions like that. I like to hear what he thinks. So I gave a vague answer, and he looked perfectly satisfied with it and kept right on talking.

He said, “Well I definitely believe in aliens. If there aren’t aliens, then what are all the PLANETS FOR?” And as he asked this, he threw his hands in the air and wrinkled his eyebrows like anyone who doesn’t believe in aliens is absolutely crazy.

Then–I loved this part–he really started theorizing. “The aliens would be smarter than us.” I threw out the thought that well, if they reached earth, that’d probably mean they’re smarter, since we can’t go further than the moon (at least any aircraft with a person inside).

Then his eyes got really wide, and he said, “Hey, to them, WE’RE the ones from outer space. That means we’re aliens.”

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When I tuck the boys in bed, every night I ask, “What do you guys want to talk about?”

Rowdy Rebel ALWAYS says “Let’s talk about birthdays! When is MY birthday?” Then I tell him, and then he tells me what kind of party he wants. His face lights up completely, and he gets that far away look in his eyes like he’s staring at heaven.

Usually, though, there are no birthdays to discuss that are actually coming up! Tonight, I got to say, “Let’s talk about my birthday!” Rowdy Rebel was very happy to plan my party, the type of cake I will have, and what presents they will buy me. I think my family is going to get me a Nintendo DSi bundle. That’s fine. The boys will all really enjoy it:)

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My boys were on “Baby Madness and Candid Kids” on the Discovery Health channel last night. It’s a cute show that shows children’s quotes and their responses in funny scenarios. Some children were asked to take long phone messages. Others were told not to touch a huge Lego model, and then the supervising adult steps out of the room.

Deep Thinker described a few different things. When asked to describe his little brother (Rowdy Rebel), he said he’s “violent.” When asked about babies, he explained that they poop–and then shared further information on the various colors of baby poop. Finally, when asked about the differences between girls and boys, he explained that girls wear bras, have bigger boobs than boys, and “that’s about it.”

He wrote about “Baby Madness and Candid Kids” on his blog:)

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This is so fun. I have to write reviews on American Idol as part of my job–it’s a funny and fun part. Technically, I don’t have to watch the show to do the reviews, but I thought I’d try to see if the boys might like it.

And they did! So we’ve been watching it together. Deep Thinker likes Allison Iraheta. Rowdy Rebel likes the contestants Deep Thinker Likes. I like Adam Lambert, the wild guy.

Tonight we watched and Deep Thinker said the funniest thing! We watched all of the contestants, and heard the judges’ comments. And at the very end of the show, Deep Thinker looks up and says, “Ya know who’d probably be real good on this show?”

And I asked, “Who?”

His answer: “Barack Obama.”

I laughed aloud. Then he followed up, “OR Abraham Lincoln!”

Yep–seeing Abraham Lincoln sing a song on American Idol sounds pretty fun. I wonder what song he would choose…I’ll ask Deep Thinker.

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Aunt Super Cool gave the boys a bunch of scientific magazines for kids. They have awesome pictures of things like gross bugs, animals, all the types of things little boys love to learn about. We try to read each night we can. I let the boys take turns choosing which book, magazine, or article we’ll read. It’s so fun to see what the boys choose and listen to their reactions to the things we read.

The other night, it was Rowdy Rebel’s turn to choose. I wasn’t surprised when he wanted to read an article that displayed a huge photograph of a horrible looking spider with fangs and fur. We started reading the article and then Rowdy Rebel started screaming, “How BIG is the spider? How BIG is it??!” This particular spider is one of the biggest in the world, about 10 inches across the full span of its legs.

I said, “It’s about this big,” and showed the boys a span of about ten inches using my hands. Then I asked, “What would you do if you saw a spider this big?”

I thought I’d get fun responses of screams and jumping up and down. Instead, Rowdy Rebel said, “I would STEP on it! I would squish his head!” I thought that was pretty gross, and explained it’s also not very nice–no need to step on bugs, just walk away from them! Then I turned to Deep Thinker…And I saw that he had tears streaming down his face! He was so sad it concerned me. I asked him what was wrong.

He cried out, “Why would you DO THAT? You can’t just kill an innocent creature! It’s like at school, when kids find lots of ants, they just step on them over and over and over! The ants didn’t hurt anyone. They’re just innocent creatures crawling around on the ground…” I tried to comfort him by saying the bugs don’t feel pain.

He eventually calmed down and felt a little better. Rowdy Rebel reacted to the whole thing with wide eyes–he knew he’d upset Deep Thinker, but was thoroughly confused about why. He quietly whispered with a concerned look on his face, “But Deep Thinker, no one likes spiders.”

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The three boys and mom (meaning me) are having lots of fun these days! Only this week, I was feeling under the weather. I’m not sure what it was, but it made me feel pretty sick on Monday. Now I’m better.

That day at pre-school, Rowdy Rebel made me a necklace. As soon as I got home, he put it on, and explained to me that it took him a very long time to make, it’s very special, and I need to be careful with it.  The necklace is very pretty! It has little golden square-shaped beads, big button beads, lots of different color, and all of the trinkets are laced around a piece of yarn. I love it.

So, I wore it that evening. But I didn’t feel well. At one point, my face must have shown this, because Deep Thinker asked, “Mom, your eyes are red. Are you going to cry?”

I said no, just that I didn’t feel well. Then I got up and said I’d be right back. I needed to go to the restroom.

Rowdy Rebel asked, “Are ya gonna throw up?” I said I hope not.

Seeming VERY concerned, Rowdy Rebel continued, “Mommy, if you DO throw up, be very,  very careful NOT to throw up on your new NECKLACE. Okay?” Nothing like the sweet words of a four-year-old keeping a close eye on his mother.

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Tonight as I tucked the boys in, some brother quotes occured that must be shared! I’m not sure if they are amusing or frightening–you be the judge.

Deep Thinker asked me to give him some division problems. His teacher praised him for asking for extra work. This made him feel soooo proud. Now he forces me to teach him extra stuff so that he can keep doing extra work (the opinion of a teacher goes a long, long way with children…it’s very touching–thank goodness his teachers have all been kind!)

SO, I was giving him division problems like “What’s 36 divided by 6?” and stuff like this. Then Rowdy Rebel needed to join in. He wanted “minus problems.” (Of course, I was dead tired and barely able to keep my eyes open, but you can’t really leave at that point…It would be unfair.)

I said, “Okay, what’s 5 minus 2?” Rowdy Rebel thought about it, but didn’t answer.

So, Deep Thinker jumps in to HELP: “Hey, you got 5 fingers. Ya get 2 of them cut off by a sword. How many do ya have left?”

The really scary part–unphased, Rowdy Rebel yelled “TWOOOOOO!”

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For children loose teeth are of paramount importance! BUT I thought Deep Thinker would NEVER lose his first tooth.

In kindergarten, his first peer reported a baby loose tooth. Then the next person. Pretty soon everyone is losing teeth. Except Deep Thinker. He handled it well…until about the middle of first grade. Then a few times he got really anxious…but last summer he FINALLY got a loose baby tooth! After this, it was Internet 24/7. He kept searching for how to pull a loose tooth. He kept ASKING me how to pull a loose tooth. Questions about the toothfairy. By the time he finally lost his first tooth, I was ready to pull my hair out! Finally, about 4 months ago (in the 2nd grade!), he lost his first tooth. Huge celebration (and relief for me).

He just lost his fourth tooth last night–this took place while our neighbors were watching the boys for us. My husband and I had gone out to a movie, and our friend Rosie stayed with the boys.

Well, we saw our movie, and it was nice, but it was also nice to get home and hear a calm, quiet house with all of our boys asleep. BUT Rosie reported that Deep Thinker lost his tooth while we were gone. I love how he told Rosie about it. Here’s the dialogue they had–oozing with 2nd grade sweetness and lack of self-conciousness:

Deep Thinker: I went into the bathroom to poop. While I was in there, my tooth came out.

Rosie: WOW! That’s great!

Deep Thinker: Call my Mom to tell her.

Rosie: I’ll definitely tell her!

Deep Thinker: I know where her phone number is. I can give it to you.

Rosie: Thank you.

He he. Rosie didn’t call us immediately, as she knew we were out watching a movie. But she let us know about this development, and Deep Thinker was happy to find $1 under his pillow. Though as seemingly with all other things, he was kind of hoping for more:)

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I was trying to get some last minute holiday gift ideas. When I ask Deep Thinker what he wants for Christmas, he only says “Wii.” I’m not getting another game console. But he simply can’t think of anything else.

SO, instead, I asked him lots of questions during a regular conversation that had nothing to do with Christmas. This conversation took an amusing turn at the end. Before the amusing turn, Deep Thinker explained that boys love old cartoons because they are the best one, Yugi-U or Pokemon cards are always a favorite, plus guys love video games and anything to do with cars or racetracks.

Good. Goal accomplished. I have lots of gift ideas for them, and none of them even vaguely resemble a game console.

Having gotten the info I needed, I had a little fun. I asked, “What do girls your age like to do? Or what do they like to play with?”

He looked at me for a few seconds, and his stare made it clear that he was thinking hard. Then he says, “Well, they don’t play video games.” I asked, “You mean never?” He said no, girls never play video games. Then he said, “Well, I don’t really know what they do. Except maybe…exercise. Yeah, they exercise and play with dolls and dresses.”

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Rowdy Rebel was using a thumb tack and paper on the carpet to make me a picture. He did this by poking holes in the paper aaaaallll the way around until he had formed a bat. (It’s kind of like he cut the bat out except that he did it by poking holes with a thumb tack.)

It looked surprisingly similar to a bat!

So I said, “Wow, Rowdy Rebel, you’re so good at art! What other things can you make and draw?”

He started listing things. “I can draw trees. I can draw ghosts. My brother. And birds.” He paused for 10 seconds and concluded, “Oh, and wieners.”

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