Slices of Life, Vol. 33

Grayson: "Hey, boys. One of my friends at work has a daughter who earns $13 an hour bringing the shopping carts in at Wal-Mart. That's really good money! Would you want to work at Wal-Mart for $13 an hour?"

Nathaniel: [speculatively]  "Mmm, I'd work at Wal-Mart for 45 minutes for $13."

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We were on a drive recently and the boys were watching The Lion King in the van.

Me: "I think The Lion King is SO scary."

Jake: "I not uh-gee."

Me: "You don't agree?"

Jake: "No. I LAHVE IT."

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Nicholas and I were throwing a ball back and forth in the den the other night when he missed and hit Jake in the head with the ball.

Nicholas: "Oops."

Me: "Nick, that's not what you say. What do you say?"

Nick:  [to me]  "Oh yeah."  [to Jake]  "GET OUT OF THE WAY."

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I was washing dishes the other night when Nathaniel called to me from the den.

Nathaniel: "MOMMY! Will you come play ball with me?"

Me: "Sure. Let me finish loading the dishwasher and I'll come in there."

Nathaniel: "How long will it be?"

Me: "Like three minutes. Why?"

Nathaniel: "BECAUSE I AM NOT ENTERTAINED."

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I gave Jake his sippy cup (which he is still willing to use -- SOMETIMES) with his supper the other night. He looked at it speculatively:

Jake: "Mommy. What cullah is dat?"

Me: "Turquoise."

Nicholas: "AK-chooly, IT IS TEAL."

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I was awakened in the middle of the night recently by a finger persistently poking the middle of my back:

Nathaniel: "Mommy. Mommy. Mommy. MOMMY."

Me: "What."

Nathaniel: "I woke up and I can't go back to sleep. Can you think of anything I can do to go back to sleep?"

Me: "What time is it?"

Nathaniel: "4:12. I woke up at four hundred and I can't go back to sleep."

Me: "Well, 12 minutes isn't all that long. Did you count backward from 100?"

Nathaniel: "Yes. And I counted forward to 2,000."  [pause]  "I might have skipped a few numbers."

Me: "Why don't you give it one more try, and I bet you'll fall back to sleep."

Nathaniel: "Okay. THIS time I'll try it with my eyes CLOSED."

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On Nov. 13th:

Me: "MAN. It's gonna be 73 degrees today! I wish the Fall weather would come and stay."

Nicholas: "Yeah. Why is it SO unseasonable?"

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Our babysitter Anna, who can almost do no wrong in our eyes, recently loaned the boys all of the Harry Potter movies on DVD. That's fine and dandy, I suppose, and I've been watching them with them for the most part ... I seem to be more scared by some of the frightening elements than they are. I haven't noticed bad language to speak of, but I did a double-take a couple of weeks ago when Nicholas dropped his warm cinnamon roll on the floor in the kitchen and followed it up with a hearty, "BLOODY 'ELL!"

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On the way home from school one evening, Nathaniel and Nicholas were doing one of those really charming routines where one person mimics the other until someone finally gives in.

Nathaniel: "I can't wait to go to Cub Scouts."

Nicholas: "I can't wait to go to Cub Scouts."

Nathaniel: "It's going to be so much fun."

Nicholas: "It's going to be so much fun."

Nathaniel: "I'm going to get a badge."

Nicholas: "I'm going to get a badge."

Nathaniel: "Oh, stop it, Nicholas. That's SO 10 seconds ago."

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Our Table Topic the other night was "What's the best thing about your life, and what's the worst part about your life?" As usual, we went around the table and answered.

Nathaniel: "The best part about my life is that I'm an American, and the worst part is that I don't like mashed potatoes. They're served all the time at school, and I just can't eat them."

Nicholas: "The best part of my life is that I have a [Nintendo] DSi XL and Nathaniel doesn't. And the worst part is that I have to go to public school every day instead of KinderCare. I want to go to KinderCare every day."

Me: "The best part of my life is my family. And the worst part, right now, is my job. My job has been really hard lately, and I'd like for that to change."

Grayson: "The best part is my boys. The worst part is my boys when they're misbehaving."

Nicholas: "You KNOW that's really the same thing."

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When Grayson and Jake are driving home each night, Grayson listens to his own choice of music until they get about three miles from home. When they get to Sulphur Springs Road, Jake knows that it's his turn. One night last week, when they got to Sulphur Springs and Jake asked for Hero and Paralyzer (his favorites), Grayson said, "Just let me finish listening to this song and then I'll play yours." So then the following night, Jake said as they reached Sulphur Springs:

"Hero! Paralyzer! AND NO YOU MAY NOT FINISH LISTENING TO YOUR SONG FIRST."

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We're big on dancing here at our house. A lot of times while I'm fixing supper, the boys and I will dance around the kitchen. When Jake was home sick yesterday, I was dancing while I was making his lunch. He was watching me from his high chair:

Jake: "What do you call dat?"

Me: "Dancing."

Jake:  [raises eyebrows and shakes head]  "NO."

Perhaps I need to work a little on my technique.