Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Kidversations: The Perils of Five Daughters

Liam, putting on a crown: I am a mommy!
Me: You are? Where are your kids?
Liam: I left them home sleeping.
Me: I hope there's a babysitter and you didn't leave them all alone.
Liam: Yeah.

Me: How many kids do you have?
Liam: Five!
Me: Five?! Wow, you look really young to have five kids! What are their names?
Liam: They're all Angelinas.
Me: How do you tell them apart?
Liam: Well...there's Angelina, and mom, and Candy, and Tasha.
Me: So, all daughters then?
Liam: *nods sadly*

Liam: Can everybody see my kids?
Me: *nodding*
Liam, incredulous: You can? But they're still rocks!
Me: What? Your kids are rocks?
Liam: Yeah and they're on the ceiling. They're still in a balloon and they can't get down! And my camera is broken!

My son's kids are in peril and he is upset that his camera is broken. These are the priorities I have passed on to my children.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Mom-ing: An Overabundance of Honesty

Ben and I try to pass on good values to our kids; things like honesty, self-sufficiency, etc. In addition to -- and probably more important than -- self-sufficiency though we try to show the kids how to be loving and helpful to each other. One of the ways this happens is, occasionally, we let one kid go through the motions of putting the other siblings to bed while we supervise.

One night it was Liam's turn to put the girls to bed and he couldn't have been prouder of himself. He remembered all the steps. He told Darcie to go potty and put a pull-up on, he reminded us to brush their teeth and pray, he played with his sisters like his daddy usually does, and then he tucked them in, kissed them, and turned off the light.

Ben and I left the room and stood in the hallway so that he could have the privilege of saying the final goodnights. Liam stood in the doorway with his hand on the knob, blew his two sisters kisses, and said goodnight to them. Then, just as the door was almost closed, he remembered something he (assumably) felt he ought to have said. He pointed to the darkest corner in the room that the nightlights didn't reach and said "oh, and that one is going to get you when you sleep."

And then he shut the door.