The Kids Said…

Brooke (after a couple especially trying days where she was having a hard time getting along with siblings): “Don’t be surprised when you see a lot of improvements in my behavior around Christmas.”

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Madison: “Mom! I look just like Mickey Mouse!”

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Me: “Brooke, smile!”

Brooke: “Why?! So you can capture my embarrassment that I’m stuck up here and can’t get down?”

Apparently. And blog about it, too!

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This is more of something a kid does than says, but I’ll include it anyway. Apparently when I read books, I often use my thumb and pinkie to hold the book open. I have never realized that’s what I do until Madison started protesting anytime I situated my fingers any differently. Now when she’s reading books, every time she turns the page she has to take time to similarly hold the book with those same fingers in that same position:

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Spencer: “Madison, you’re a midget.”

Spencer’s friend: “Spencer! You can’t call her a midget! You’ll hurt her feelings!”

Caroline (matter-of-factly): “It’s okay. She doesn’t have feelings yet.”

Caroline noticed a most unflattering mole on my arm.  Black hair grows out of it which grosses me out so I try to keep it trimmed but obviously had slacked in the grooming department on this particular day.

Caroline (with a note of mild horror in her voice):  “You have an eyelash growing on your arm?!”

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Me:  “Want to go to Grandma’s?”

Spencer (excitedly, pumping both fists in the air):  “YEAH!”

Me (matching his enthusiasm):  “When we get there, are you going to say, ‘I love you Grandma!’?”

Spencer (pausing for a moment and suddenly getting very serious):  “Actually…I’m going to play with cars.”

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Spencer, Caroline, and I were walking into a store.  In the parking lot Spencer suddenly stopped, backtracked about five paces, and picked up a rock.

Spencer:  “Caroline!  It’s a rock!  I found a rock!  It’s totally a rock, Caroline!”

(You probably had to be there for that one.  The “totally” part is what got me.)

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Caroline had to be sedated for some dental work.  I told her they would give her something to make her fall asleep and they’d fix her teeth while she was sleeping.  While we were waiting for the dentist, she was lying down looking tired.

Me:  “Are you going to go to sleep right now?”

Caroline:  “You mean without even a sleeping spell?”

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Me:  “Caroline, would you like more apples?”

Caroline (carefully considering this offer):  “I’m happy to report…I want a grapefruit.”

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We were at my mom and dad’s house.  Spencer and Caroline were in the basement watchingAlice in Wonderland.  My mom and I heard Spencer coming up the stairs mumbling to himself, “That was the stupidest tea party ever.”

Spencer was clinging to my leg and whining at me as I was trying to make lunch for the kids.  Caroline was nearby getting frustrated with his noise.

When she had had enough, she glared at Spencer and said, “Ugh, Spencer.  You’re too loud!”  Then she sighed and mumbled under her breath, “Miscreant.”

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Spencer stepped on one of the millions of pony toys we constantly have scattered throughout our living room.  He yelped, cried for a second, then ran over to me and said what Dallas and I say roughly 100 times a day when that happens to us, “That’s why we need to clean up our toys, girls!”

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Brooke was working on her homework.  Her teachers send home a packet with the entire week’s worth of homework to be returned on Friday.  One day Brooke was feeling especially productive and decided to complete her whole packet on the first day.  She was almost done and was getting pretty tired of writing.  I noticed that she had only written her spelling words twice when she was supposed to write them three times.

Me:  “Brooke, you need to write your words one more time each.  If you’re too tired you can save it for tomorrow since you’ve already been working so hard today.”

Brooke (sighing):  “Well, I might crab if I have to do it tomorrow.  I don’t want to hear my own crabbing so I’m just going to do it now.”

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I got the girls’ Halloween costumes at the end of September.  They loved wearing them around the house.  The next day we were headed to my mom’s house.

Caroline:  “I’m going to wear my costume to show Grandma!”

Brooke:  “Me too!”

Me:  “Sometimes Grandma likes to be surprised by your costumes on Halloween.  Do you want to save them for a surprise?”

Brooke: “Well, Grandmas are kind of old and I think if she sees our costumes today she’ll forget what they are by the time Halloween comes.”