Recalling the Funnies

* Before we left Florida the kids and I had to visit another ward as part of my church calling.  I was a little nervous about how Bryce would handle going to a different nursery after the difficulties we'd had earlier in the year attending Ward Conferences. Just before I took him to nursery, I tried to prepare him for what was coming.  He looked up at me and explained, "I'm probably going to cry."

"Uh oh," I thought, but responded, "No you're not."

"I'm not?" he questioned, "why?"

"Because you've got Lucy." (Lucy is a stuffed animal cat)

"Oh," he answered, nodding, and he went happily to nursery.

* When we're out in the car, Bryce frequently asks, "where are we going now?"  When I respond that we're going "home," he fusses, "I don't want to go back to the apartment! Why do we have to go back?"  Usually I try to explain why we need to return.  Finally, I asked the obvious question, "Bryce, why don't you want to go to the apartment."  His answer?: "I want to go to a party."

*Frequently, when we ask Bryce to do something like count to 10 or sing his ABC's, he answers, "Um, I'll do it on my birthday, okay?  On my birthday."

* Bryce loves to imitate his sister.  If Aubree's talking about homophones, so is Bryce, even if he doesn't quite understand the concept as evidenced by his interpretations:  "It's a homophone, you know, like 'going to Washington'."  Yesterday he was coloring and asked, "Mom, how do you spell 'nose'?"  Laughing, I spelled out the word and he listened carefully then seriously "wrote" it down.  Then he caught my eye and started laughing too.

* Recently the kids and I finished reading through the Illustrated Stories of the Old Testament and started reading the Illustrated Stories of the New Testament.  Apparently Bryce is paying attention and caught some of the main themes of the Old Testament.  The other morning we were reading and he exclaimed, "They were wicked!"  

"Uh, no Bryce," I corrected, "we're reading about Mary, she's Jesus' mother and she was very righteous."  

Confused, he wanted to know, "Who's wicked, then?"

* Thane's been eating baby food for a couple weeks now and it's almost as fascinating to the older kids as it is to him.  "Can I have a bite of Thane's food?" the vultures beg.  One night I mashed up a piece of banana and Aubree and Bryce stared, drooling.  "It's just banana," I explained, sharing a small bite, "if you want some, the rest of the banana is on the counter."  "Oh!" they enthused, their eyes big, "will you mash it for us too?"  

Yesterday I gave Thane peas for the first time.  "Aubree, Bryce, do you want to try a bite?" I offered.  Clearly, their enthusiasm does not extend to green food.

* For a recent bedtime prayer, Bryce prayed as follows, "Dear Heavenly Father, thank thee this day, Amen."  

"Try again," I admonished.

Immediately he began again, "Dear Heavenly Father, thank thee this day, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

* Last week was bitterly cold and we weren't prepared with the necessary winter gear.  One day we ventured out to run errands and visit the doctor.  After a long morning out, we were all hungry and grumpy and COLD.  After getting everyone into the van after our last stop in frustration I exclaimed, "I give up! We're going back to Florida!"  Aubree queried, "are we really going back, Mom?"  "No, not really," I laughed and started driving home.  About ten minutes later, Bryce asked, "Where are we going?"  When I told him we were heading back to the apartment, he cried, "you said we were going back to Florida!!"  Oops.  I tried to explain that I had just been kidding and that we really can't go back to Florida, but he didn't want to be swayed. "But you SAID!"  Remind me not to joke about such things with 2 year-olds!

*Aubree decided that she wants to be Bryce's teacher.  One day she sat down and wrote down some of the things she wanted to teach him and even made lesson plans.  I love it!

* Last Sunday when we got home from church Aubree was over-reacting to things that normally wouldn't bother her.  Little things were making her cry or get angry.  "Aubree," I warned, "I think you're going to need a nap if you keep acting like this, because you must be tired."  Immediately she launched into hysterics, "Nooooooo," she wailed, "I'm NOT TIRED!!"  

"Okay," I questioned, "if you're not tired, then why are you acting this way?"

Sobbing, she answered, "I'm just having a really hard day."

"Oh no!" I soothed, "what's been really hard about your day?"

Dropping her chin, she looked right in my eyes, "You!" she declared.

*The other day, Aubree announced that she wanted to marry her friend Parker.  Her explanation as to why included the following points:

1.  She would like being a part of Holly's (Parker's mom) family.

2.  Emme (Parker's sister) would like it (having Aubree in the family).

3.  Holly would probably give her lots of presents (*Holly is well known for her extreme generosity).

I posted this funny experience on Facebook and Holly responded saying she certainly would "shower Aubree with presents if she married Parker."  When I told Aubree Holly's response, Aubree jumped up, "I'm definitely marrying Parker!"

 *Aubree is already planning the names for her future children.  Her current favorites for girls: Ruby, Pearl, Rosemary, & Jewel.  For boys: Junior, Gordon, Henry.

*We miss our Florida friends.  One day Aubree decided to make a list of some of the people she misses (she stopped when she ran out of room on her paper):