Chronicles #3

Emma:” Mama, what’s the cricket saying to us”?
Tracy: “Goodnight, goodnight.”
Emma: “No Mama, he is saying” I’m looking for a girrrl cricket””.
One very preceptive girl.

William was fussing in the morning, Emma’s comment: “He’s just a little grumpy guy. How about you leave him alone”.

Emma: “I’m Huckenberry Finn”.
Emma is fascinated by Huckleberry Finn and her usual night time routine is one of us pretending to be Huckleberry and she is Lucky the dog. The area rug in the living room is the raft. We fish, clean our catch and cook it over the fire. When Emma is Lucky, she talks with her lips almost all the way closed, muffling a high squeaky voice. Burton was effecting an over-the top southern accent and told Emma, “Lucky, say goodnight to your mom”. Emma quickly corrected him in Lucky voice, “Actually it’s Mama”.

Another Huckleberry instance, Emma announces in a whispered, scared Lucky voice, “There are mean raccoons over there”. Burton asks,”Where did they come from”? Emma responds, “North Carolina”.

Emma saying goodbye to her dad: “Watch out for lions, spiders, mean rumbling horses, and watch out for buffalos, they will hurt your car”. This morning she also added bunny rabbits. I asked her why we needed to watch out for bunny rabbits and she said while giggling, “They will chase you”!

When Emma is running around the lawn with her daddy she will say, “chase me like a fish”. Whatever, that means.

I was putting William down for bed and I gave him his sippy cup with water. William took one sip and crinkled his nose. He jumped up and ran out of the room. He ran back in, dragging the gallon of milk and his cup.

When it is time for prayer we tell William to kneel down. Instead of slowly kneeling down, William jumps into the air folds his legs and lands with a thump on his knees. Nothing is halfway with William.

Burton was watching the kids while I was being a guest teacher at my friends classroom. William was having some constipation difficulties and Burton decided a suppository was necessary. I called him on a break and Burton said,”I put one of those superlatives in”. We both started laughing. I guess an exaggerated expression of praise would be better than the alternative.

Later that evening: Tracy is changing William’s diaper and Burton comes in with a plastic bag
to collect the offending item, saying, “Bring out your dead, bring out your dead”.

At bedtime William can’t quite get out the 2 syllables of goodnight so instead he says “ni-ight” in 2 syllables. When he gives kisses he says, “mmmmaaa” as he puckers up.

William loves hats, tupperware, potty seats, cottage cheese containers, metal bowls or anything else that will fit nicely on his head. When he puts metal bowls on his head he loves to run as fast as he can because the bouncing of his head makes a thumping noise against the bowl. His favorite hat of all though is Emma’s lavender Easter hat.

Other than the frilly hat thing, William is boy through and through. He throws everything. I apologize before church starts, to the people in front and behind us and warn them of flying objects. I’ve learned the hard way that I only give him soft toys during meetings.

Last night William made a frightening discovery. Well frightening for us. He was throwing his knit hat up in the air and it caught on the spinning fan blades and shot across the room. With utter glee he screamed out and laughed. We just can’t wait to see what else he will throw up there.