Tricksy little sayings

These kids of mine. They just have a way of cracking me up. Mak searches for moments to make me laugh and be a part of the action and some of the things Sophia says literally crack me up.

The other day, Sophia was throwing a temper tantrum in Target, and having to finish my shopping excursion because I had waited until the 27th hour and had a deadline, I pressed on toward the goal. The whole thing - Sophia in the back of the cart because I had to contain her - became a race to see how fast I could whip down the aisles, grabbing what I needed while ignoring her screaming, kicking, and trying to jump out of the cart. All the while, Mak, who was quietly strapped and sitting in the kid-seat in the front of the cart, had a look of utter amazement, tracking a make-believe ball back and forth from Sophia back to me, Sophia back to me.

...Whap! Sophia hits a fast one with the latest kick to the side of the cart...
...Kapow! Mom ignores it but sweat is dripping down her fac and I think I saw her lip twitch...

Because the game was too much fun to watch and there are no rules when you're 15 months old, Mak decides we're having too much fun without him. He begins shreaking at the top of his lungs, echoeing every one of Sophia's loud screams with a shrill of his own.

...It seems, folks, that a Capuchin monkey has joined us on the court...

The upside to temper tantrums is who needs exercise when you're so embarrassed and sweating and burning calories? The downside is that you may discover that your deoderant is less than ample to live up to the task.

And, Sophia, with her latest comments (she'll kill me one day if she reads this), trying so hard to be just and fair:

Mak, being a BOY, finds his PARTS every time he's naked and who needs bath toys when you have these PARTS? Follow me? So, last week, Sophia tells Mak he needs to share while they're in the bathtub. Our most recent sibling challenge is sharing, and I've taken cues from my friend, Nicole, in setting timers to mark how long one child gets to play with a toy before it's the other's turn. SOOO, in the sweetest most coddling voice EVER, Sophia says to Mak, "ok, buddy, go ahead and have fun, but next it's my turn to touch your PARTS, okaaaaayyyyyy?" Later in the week, while they were strapped in their seats in the back of the van, Sophia begins to call Mak a "little humper" which carries on into the afternoon and then the following morning.

Love this. First she's encouraging him to share his PARTS with her and then she's calling him a "little humper". I cannot begin to describe how special this was.

And then, in a moment I thought would be educational, I explained to Sophia how when we don't obey rules and laws, we might have to go to jail. To which Sophia replies, "ohhhh, weeeeeelllllllll jail is just like Heaven. You can die in jail and you die in Heaven..." Fantastic. That went well and I really drove that home. In fact, I can see that I've explained the whole concept of Heaven really well, too. Great.

All in all, however, life has been great. Sophia has started school and is doing fantastic. Mak is talking, running, continuing to play in toilets, and now has discovered that his little fat foot is the exact right size to fit evenly in Macy's water bowl. Our days have been crazy, but good, and they're going too fast. And, on this note, I'm going to sign off. Mak just put a plastic pig in my lap and "bye bye". Sianara, for now!