The age of the times

I have a collection of cassettes from when I studied in Mexico in 1993-1994. Some is music and others are tapes from a radio program that I had with a small handful of other US international students (we called the program Gringolingo, by the way). They were tucked away in a wooden box on a shelf in Ale's room. He was interested in the box so I got it down. When he opened it he was puzzled and asked, "What are those?" He wasn't too interested when I told him. He only knows CDs & DVDs.

It's a new one!

The kids favorite cartoon is Tom & Jerry, one that I watched when growing up. They started watching it because they could see it "on demand" at Nanna & Buppa's. They also enjoy the Pink Panther which both Armando & I used to watch. Samuel went into shock when he said that there was a "new" one on and I told him that none of them were "new" & they were around when I was growing up. But to him it is still "new".

Opposites....

The world according to Samuel...the opposite of "upside down" is "upside up".

Yes, or no, or maybe, there is a Santa Claus

Ale is 4 & 1/2...One day out of the blue he told me that there was no Santa Claus. He then added that the Easter Bunny wasn't real either (this one didn't bother me at all). His logic was quite simple, the Easter Bunny couldn't be real because bunnies are small and that big bunny you see on television or at the mall is just a guy dressed up. I didn't answer yes or no but later said if that is what he thought that he should keep it a secret because he had to decide for himself. Lately he has been talking about the bunny because Easter is coming and he knows that if there is no bunny, however, then there is no fun little basket. Strangly, he hasn't mentioned the 3 Kings but that I am glad for.

Get with the Times!

Samuel is in first grade and he is reading a book about Benjamin Franklin. We have to sit with him when he reads because sometimes the content is a little to complicated. One morning we were reviewing with him and we asked Samuel why he thought that Benjamin Franklin took a boat to Philadelphia. His reply, "Because they didn't have airplanes back then."

Toofers

All of the kids were late "tooth" bloomers...I think Samuel didn't get his first tooth until he was 10 months old. Andrea is our youngest bloomer and her first tooth popped up about a month ago when she was 7 months. She never fails to get a giggle from people when she gives them a stare down and then when they say something to her she smiles and has a mouthful of gums and just one little tooth sticking up on the bottom.

Holy Cow...or Horse?

We were in Mexico in January and Ale was picking up Spanish quickly after a few days of being there. He learned that a horse was a "caballo" (ka-buy-yo...more or less). We had a chuckle when we passed a heard of cows that were grazing in a field near the highway and he said, "Mira (look), los caballos". We told him that cows were "vacas" but he wasn't concerned. He kept on calling cows "caballos" and we couldn't figure out why. One day he pronounced it and we finally picked up why....he was thinking and saying "COW-ballo". At least that explained it!

Going Bananas in a Commercial Sort of Way

When the kids are hungry they are allowed to eat unlimited fruit or grab a yogurt. Annah is our big fruit eater. It isn't uncommon for her to ask for a banana or even two! But she is a demanding little customer; she always wants the banana that has a sticker on it. Over the weekend we had bananas but none with stickers on them. So she selected her banana and decided she'd only eat it if it had stickers. Off we went to find some and she had about 10 stickers on the banana when she declaired it was then okay to eat. This concept may be key to having children eat their fruits and veggies; if they all came with stickers children would be happy and it would be so much better than happy meals with toys!

Let me count the ways

When Annah gets hurt feelings she always wants to make up after or looks or reassurance. She'll come up to you and give you a hug and say "I love you too!" She always adds the "too" even if you don't say anything before.

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When I tell the kids "I love you" they say "I love you too". Then I say "I love you three, I love you four (..sometimes adding, "I love you more").