The Kids at Present

I thought I'd write a bit about the kiddies just to document and remember.  Q is at an awesomely cute/fun age where he does/says the greatest things.  It is a crackup to hear him tell a story or sing a song.  He has the raspiest voice with the cutest lisp.

So, Q snuggled up to me one night and whispered, "I'm scared.  The monsters are coming and they're going to eat my bwain."  I asked him who told him monsters eat brains (wondering what older sibling had planted that scary seed).  Apparently it was Dennis.  Upon questioning, Dennis said with a shrug, "I just made it up because monsters aren't even real.  I just said it to scare him."  Yup.  I knew it.  He had to set things straight with Q after that.

Also, Q has an imaginary friend named Phoenix who is apparently magic.  Phoenix has brought him all sorts of fun things like Christmas presents, our house, crayons, jackets and so on.  Phoenix does magic tricks too and he's a giant with yellow hair and blue eyes.  I am constantly hearing about what Phoenix did or brought or said.  It is quite endearing.  I myself had an imaginary friend named Rongoleelee when I was a wee thing.  I think that means he will be a genius or something.

Yesterday Q was mad at me for trying to entice him (for the umpteenth time) to get potty trained before he is 25 and so he hid in the garage and threatened to live with someone else who would let him wear diapers.  He was in the process of trying to get the bike buggy out of the garage.  Apparently that was to be his mode of transportation. So.  He has had his first "I'm running away" episode at only 3 years old.  Eventually he poked his head in the door requesting that I ask him to come back inside.  Which I did and he did.  And then he had a bubble bath because he had a tear-stained face and grubby garage hands.

And Q's favorite number is 2100.  Pronounced twenty-one hundred.  He sleeps for 2100 hours.  He hasn't had treats for 2100 days.  He has 2100 crayons.  And the like.  It's pretty much 2100 everything.

Dennis has a best friend.  They talk on the phone incessantly.  It's a crack-up to listen to them.  Right now they are discussing plans for Dennis' birthday party which is a mere 3 months away.  Almost every day they have new plans for activities and games.  Just the other day I had to listen to the latest plan and okay it.  It was actually a pretty good one.  On another note, he was jumping on the trampoline with the boys and bounced weird and ended up biting his knee and lip at the same time.  So now he has two very defined teeth marks in his knee.  I just can't get over the fact that he bit his own knee. Crazy.

Mr. C reads.  Over and over and over.  He reads and re-reads books.  He snuggles in the beanbag and huddles around a night light at night.  He wakes up early and reads.  He stays up late and reads.  He eats dinner fast so he can (you guessed it) read.  He reads in the car.  He reads on the floor.  He reads on the couch.  He reads at the table (until I tell him to put it down for goodness' sake and get back here to reality for a second or three).  And can I say how much I love having him around for taking out the garbage and hauling things here and there.  I can't even imagine how great it will be when he gets even bigger and stronger.

Miss B is quite good at babysitting.  She brings a whole bag of goodies, crafts, games etc.  She cleans for them, she leaves a list of what happened for the night, she lets the kids pick out a toy if they are good.  She LIVES for it.  It is amazing to watch her come up with new ideas and prepare for each time she babysits.  And she is really very prepared.  I know I was never that prepared.  I just showed up and hoped for the best.  I still have nightmares about screaming babies and houses with cats (I'm allergic).

I know I wrote mostly about Q, but he's the one I hang out with most of the time so it's only natural.

Also, Happy President's Day!  While rummaging through some things, I found some presidential-type workbooks filled with fun facts about the presidents, etc.  So I passed them out to the kids and felt very good indeed.