Silly Kids

by Heather Bock

Overheard:
Mr. C: What is a sugar cube made of, JP?
JP: Salt.

Little E was practicing her Spanish on the computer when I woke one morning. As I started the day’s first load of laundry, I heard the program say, “Es un cerdo!” Automatically, I responded aloud with the translation: “It’s a pig!” I followed with, “Good morning, Little E!” She didn’t respond. A few seconds later, I heard sniffling. I walked up to her and discovered tears dripping on the desk. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Are you frustrated with Spanish?” That’s when she fully broke down and wailed, running to her room, “You called me a pig!”

We need to work on John 3:16 with JP a little more. After a few days of memorizing it, he recited, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only forgotten son.”

Mr. C and Little E recently started using DuoLingo to help them learn Spanish. They were having trouble logging in to their accounts, so I wrote their passwords and user names on a piece of paper next to the computer. Mr. C, however, was worried about someone doing nefarious deeds with his Spanish lessons. He asked with a bit of a worried tone, “But what if a robber comes in and steals the passwords?”

JP: The dog always barks at me when I go to my swimming lesson.
Me: How do you feel about that?
JP: I’m done talking.

Mr. C has definitely come a long way with his eating. He used to be the slowest eater in the family. JP has passed him up by far in that area. Now that Mr. C can call himself a fast eater, he decided, “I’m a fast eater, so that’s why I like fast food!” Oh, so that’s why!

JP knows our euphemisms for urinating and bowel movements. I excused myself to use the bathroom, and he just had to know: “Are you going to go number 1 or number 3?” I don’t know, but if I WERE going to go number 3, I don’t think anyone would want to know about it.

History question for Little E: Who built the Suez Canal?
Little E: The man with the shovel.

I’ve been trying to teach JP about not being selfish, about thinking of other people before himself. It’s a hard road. He’s said a few times instead, “I can do anything I want, Mama. Because it’s all about me.”

Sometimes a child’s compliments can come out with a little more truth than I’d like to hear.
Little E to me: You look beautiful today on the outside AND on the inside.
Me: Why, thank you!
Little E: Some days you’re only beautiful on the outside.
Mr. C had to add: Some days only on the inside.

One day after JP had come back from playing in our neighborhood kiddy pool with his daddy and siblings, he was excited to tell me the news. He exclaimed, “I did a back float and put my face in and blew water out of my nose in the kitty litter pool!”