These Little Brains

These little brains never cease to amaze me.  Here are just a few gems from this week...

• "We go to preschool on Mondays and Wednesdays."  I heard this sentence no less than 824 times on Veteran's Day.  Caden just could not understand how it could be a Monday and yet, no preschool.  Poor guy, it bothered him greatly and my explanations did nothing to appease him.

• The sun was glaring in our eyes as we headed off for a play date this week, and I think it was Addison who said something about sunset.  I, trying to make everything a teachable moment, said something to the effect of, "Sunrise is in the morning and sunset is in the evening."  She waited about a half second and chimed in, "Annnnnd, Sunset is our vacation house."  Yep, that's right folks.  Sunset Beach, NC.  We rented a vacation house there three months ago, and all this time she's had that information filed away, just waiting for the right context to connect to.

• Last Sunday we were walking out of church and Addison suddenly wanted to walk by herself.  Since we were not in a parking lot, I said ok.  But as we got closer I decided to reign her in.  We were about ten steps from the curb when I said, "Alright - let's hold hands."  She pulled back further.  So I said, "We hold hands in the parking lot, that's the rule."  She looked up at me with all the seriousness she could muster and answered, "But we're not there yet."  The lady walking past us stifled a laugh, rather unsuccessfully.  I, while impressed with Addison's accuracy, was not amused at her resistance and ended up carrying her the rest of the way to the car.  

• At Gramzy and Pop's house, Addison recently wanted to jump off the bench at the foot of their bed.  (The kids have always used that bench to get on and off the bed, so naturally now they want to use it to launch themselves into space and come crashing down with the force of thunder.)  Gramzy, being very wise, told Addison that she should ask her Mommy.  And Addison, being even wiser, whispered... and I mean barely audibly...  "Mooooomy."  Gramzy asked her to call louder, at which point Addison raised her voice to the level that you would use to wake a sleeping baby.   Luckily, my Momdar was on and I happened into the room right about then to squash the idea of jumping off of anything.  Nope, there is no problem with that girl's critical thinking.

• Also at Gramzy and Pop's...  the kids went to Discovery with them while I was out getting started on Christmas.  And afterward they all went to Hardee's for lunch.  Where Caden accidentally spilled his milk all over himself.  Pop quickly came to the rescue and cleaned him all up saying, "Pop will take care of you."  When he was all done the boy quietly said, "Sorry Pop."  Our first ever, truly kid-initiated, and most sincerely felt apology ever.  It was all Pop could do not to melt into the floor, right there in the middle of Hardee's.

• And if THAT weren't enough, Caden further endeared himself by quietly noting how Pop picked up his french fries two at a time.  In no time flat the boy was picking his fries up two at a time as well.   

• Mr. GaGregor pants.  That's what Addison calls her overalls.  (As in Mr. McGregor from Peter Rabbit.)  And every time she puts them on she'll say, "A'n has her Mr. GaGregor pants on!"  This sends Caden running away yelling, "No A'son, don't wear Mr. Gagregor pants!"  Not sure if he is thinking he's Peter Rabbit or what.

• Caden accidentally spilled our magnetic letters onto the floor.  He immediately looked for letter A and C, which they know well because of their names.  Beyond that, their letter ID skills are fairly inconsistent.  Or so I thought.  Caden pipes up with an excited, "E!!!!  E is for Eleanor!!"  (She's in his preschool class.)  Guess I should start doing a little investigative work to see what other letters they now know.  Let's see - L for Layla, B for Brayden...