Random Communications

In a house filled with 11 people, 9 of them under age 16, there is plenty of communication.  Some of it is edifying, some of it is arguing, some of it is informative, and some of it is useful.

Every once in a while, we hear or see something funny in the way of communication, mostly from the little ones.  So here are a few remarks and phrases that have floated around recently.

From our toddler son (calling loudly up the stairs as I lay in bed, sort of napping...):  "Naomi, Lydia, please tell Mom that I have a poopy diaper." (This was said in the courteous tone of an Eastern diplomat, and it made me smile as I launched myself out of bed.)

This next one will sound vaguely shocking, but it was just a struggle to put heartfelt feelings into words:

Sarah (age 4):  "Mom, I hate you when you sing."

What she MEANT was that she doesn't like my singing, which is funny as I've been on worship teams and even sang the National Anthem at an official event. So I can sing.  We worked on an alternate phrasing:  "Mom, I don't like it when you sing."

Sarah (again):  "Mom, I'm so bored with this sleeping thing."

That SOUNDS like grumpiness about sleeping, but actually she was saying she wanted to change out of her pajamas into a dress.

Sarah (is there a theme here?):  "MOM, Daniel just hit my lips with his lips!"  Again, sounds shocking, but they were rolling around in sleeping bags and crashed into each other.  With their lips?

Daniel:  "Mom, I don't want to eat my squash!"

The funny thing about THAT is that it is a phrase from one of our favorite A-Team episodes (a show from the 1980's, for those who don't know) in which the mad pilot H. M. Murdoch is putting on a particularly insane show to convince an army doctor that he is indeed crazy.  Daniel hasn't seen the show, but the older kids say it enough that he's picked up on it.

And...Daniel...:  "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya.  You killed my father, prepare to die."

Princess Bride. Which he hasn't (of course) seen. But he's heard the older kids say.  And there is a magnet with that phrase on the refrigerator.  One of the funniest lines in that movie.

A random note on the table:  Pick tree worms at 7.

Translation?  Isaac, who has the less than stellar job of killing the tree worms that are infesting our evergreens, discovered some and wrote a note about destroying them when it was cooler.  We don't pick tree worms like we pick green beans, I assure you.

Rose doesn't talk much and her words won't sound amazingly creative, but they tug our heart strings.  She cries out "Da da da da da" when she sees Dad after he's been gone at work all day.  I'm sure it makes coming home all the sweeter.