Out of the Mouths of 3 Year Olds

A few of the things I never wanted to hear my 3 yr old say-

"Oh, Mom, I'm going to go potty on your lap"
"You smell like tow poop*, Mom"
*said like cow poop...

And the phrase that strikes fear into my squeamish heart-

"Oh, no, Mom, I'm gonna puke!"

Technically, she was still 2 when she told me I smelled like cow poop, excuse me, tow poop. I feel the need to explain to you that for some couple of weeks everything smelled liked cow poop. Well, wait, no it didn't, at least I'm pretty sure I didn't, but our property is surrounded by farmland, and there are certain times when a certain scent is in the air. It comes with the territory.

Okay, the puke announcements aren't really funny at the time, but I always end up laughing about it later... like an hour later, when my husband calls home to see how my day is going, or a day or two later, when I'm sharing the story with a sister or a friend from church. Eventually, even the puke proclamation tales are funny. I think they have to be, I mean it's laugh about them or break down and cry, right? I choose to laugh, it's better for me.

I laughed when Snapper, now 16, said something funny, I even remembered to write a few of them down. I chuckled when Quipper delighted us with amusing quips. Razzle and Dazzle entertained us with humorous little-speak for quite some time. I was pretty sure that Sparkler said the zaniest 3 and 4 yr old things ever in the history of funny kids. When Twinkler beamed "I like this tow poop cake!", I knew we were in for another couple years of entertainment.

With little Mr. Chipper only a sweet 15 months old, I'm sure we have plenty sillyness to look forward to, and that delights this Mother's heart.

Enjoy your children! Smile and laugh at the sillyness and remember those times when you feel lost in the serious.

Kids Crack Me Up!

Dazzle recently turned 7. One of her gifts was the classic game Operation. The first time the children played it together, it was pretty much an unfair fight. Quipper, our current 10 yr old was getting piece after piece out with steadied hand ease, causing the 8, 7, & 4 yr old girls to become a bit discouraged. When Quipper deftly removed yet another piece, he modestly explained "It all comes from getting slivers out." He went on to assure them "You can learn my technique."

- Yeah, the training is fun, you just need to get a bunch of slivers and splinters...

Driving down to the in-laws' a few weeks past, we went through miles and miles (and miles and miles) of farmland. At some seemingly random point in the drive, Dazzle gasped "Ooo, there's that field! And there's that other field! I'd know those fields anywhere!" followed by a pause, and then a "hey, where's that other field?"

-Hmmm, which other field? Did you mean the one that looked pretty much like all the other fields we've been driving past for the last hour...? I laughed out loud at that one, sorry Dazzle, but seriously, that was funny.

My children make me smile each and every day. In the midst of all of the work of raising these future men and women (and it is work, don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise) are these moments of silliness and joy. The sweet moments, the icing on the cake of Motherhood.

And it's good for your heart!

• A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance... Proverbs 15:13a
• ...but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast. Proverbs 15:15b
• A merry heart doeth good like a medicine... Proverbs 17:22a

More Kid Quotes...

Kids Crack Me Up!

4 yr old Hope found a freshly made paper airplane laying unguarded on the table, "Who made this?" she wondered aloud.

"I did." said 10 yr old big brother Jaron.

Holding up a piece of broken crayon, "Do you want it blue-ish?"

"Um, nope."

-Hmmm, why not? Shouldn't every paper airplane be blue? Excuse me, blue-ish? Judging by the marker in her hand, she was hoping for a little impromptu arts and crafts time, to which I say 'better a paper airplane than her skin, or my walls, or the woodwork surrounding our fireplace...

Another Hope-ism: Sunday, after church, when pulling in to McDonald's (I know, I know, shame on me for not having a lunch prepared, seriously, shame, but...), just turned 7 yr old Grace eagerly begged, as she always does, "Can we go inside?! Can we go inside?!" to which Hope replied, very seriously and without skipping a beat, "Haven't you heard it's flu season?"

-Haha! Yep, they're little parrots, and yep, I've used that excuse a few times the fast couple months...

And yet another Hope-ism, 4 yr olds are the best for this sort of thing: the family computer has had some issues as of late. It has gotten pickier and pickier and has decided not to play DVDs anymore, ok, fine, whatever. Yesterday, it decided to give attitude about running any of the kids' games. Hope was trying to start the Living Letters game, it wasn't happening. I told her "I think that computer is breaking." She replied, "Maybe it was Daddy, he knows how to break computers."

-This is extra funny in our family, as my husband, her dear Daddy, is an IT Manager and has been known to fix just about any computer related problem ever presented to him. Of course, he has been known to say "You have to break things before you can fix them..."

My husband brought home a new cell phone and 10 yr old Jaron was playing with his old one. 13 month old Joseph started squawking a bit in Jaron's ear, and he turned to his little brother and asked, "What? Haven't you ever seen me texting?"

-For the record, none of my children have working cell phones, and thus, none of them have ever texted. In fact, I have never texted... yet.

What funny antics could you tell about your children this week? You know if you don't write them down, you will very likely forget them by tomorrow morning. My humorously gifted 4 yr old had us snickering again last evening, and I can't for the life of me remember what she said... I didn't write it down (type it) soon enough.

This afternoon's project- I'm planning on printing these out and scrapbooking them along with some current favorite photos of our children, to bring down to the in-laws for Thanksgiving. I plan to keep adding to it- these Kid Quotes will make such a fun addition to our photo albums and scrapbooks. Memories of laughter and good times make this life so much sweeter!

Kids Crack Me Up!

(blast from the past photo, our current 8 yr old, formerly 3...)

Recently, our just-turned-3 yr old, Mercy, has decided that everything that has a smell that she can smell, smells like cow poop, or in her toddler dialect, "smells like tow poop". It was pretty much cute and funny, at least it was until she told me I smelled "like tow poop". Yeah, then it got less funny, or at least less cute. This past Sunday afternoon, she was enjoying a very rich piece of dark chocolate cake when she very excitedly declared, "Mom, I like this tow poop take!"

One morning last week, when The Teenager emerged from the bathroom, 4 yr old Hope was apparently impressed with his look as she burst out "You put your hair in style! You put in jellyfish!" (Translation: You styled your hair. You put in gel.) We chuckled while The Teenager was like, "whatever", which made me chuckle some more. I'm sensitive and understanding like that.

A bit later, that same 4 yr old Hope came huffing and puffing (after tearing back and forth across the great room a dizzying number of times), to tell me "Mom, I was running faster than I could, without even shoes on!". No, there are no typos in that quote. My husband asked if she's speaking Engrish now, nope, I don't think it's quite that bad...

Our newly-turned-1 yr old son was put in a box, which was attached to 2 other boxes with string, all three of which were being pulled around the room by the 4, 6, & 8 yr old girls. He wasn't convinced it should be fun, in fact, he was starting to protest greatly, when 4 yr old Hope tried to reassure him with a tender and loving "Don't worry, you'll understand it when you're older." I really don't know if he will, honey.

You know how children say funny things, and we laugh until we're crying (it really can't only be my Mom and I that do that, right?) and then we say that famous line- "I really should write that one down."? Only, really, maybe one out of 10 of us, or worse, ever does? I have a few written down, in random places, always intending to start that kid-quote journal, but never actually doing it... Well, I'm at the computer a lot, and it's pretty quick to type them out, so lately I've been doing just that, and I think I'll try to make a regular thing out of it. Those could be famous last words, but we'll see. Our 4 yr old's been on a roll lately, and the newly-turned-3 yr old is coming into her own in the funny department, there is a lot of material here!

What funny things have your kids said lately?