Skylerism : Social Saavy

So last night after dinner we had a mini social skills lesson. We taught the kids about how we can show our friends that we care and are listening to them by using our body language and by asking questions about things their friends are talking about. We role-played different scenarios and then involved them in our role-playing so they could practice.
This morning, the cute third grade girl we carpool with was telling Skyler about the movie she went to see with her family.

"We went to see this really dumb movie called Twilight. We wanted to see Toy Story, but it had already started. I mean it was already like twenty minutes into it, so we had to see something else, so we saw Twilight. There was this ugly guy named Edward and he had weird hairs on his chest and it was just disgusting. And Bella was totally in love with him, which was gross, especially because there was this other guy who was really cute and his name was Jacob. He was seriously like way cuter and Edward was like, "Oh, I love you, Bella!" Anyway, it was just a really dumb movie."

M, "Skyler, are there any questions you might like to ask about her trip to the movie?"

S,"....Nope. I think I have all the information I need."

Show damage

Soooo, did any of you see our most recent show, They're Playing our Song? Our daughter did. She knew the script well...too well.
Maybe we should stop doing shows for a while....

Fly-ie, day #2

Fly-ie yet lives. He joined Xander and me in the kitchen today during snack time. I suppose I'm glad he's here. He kept X entertained for quite a while while I did dishes. "Fly-ie's on my hair!" and "Fly-ie's on my neck!" He giggled with delight each time Fly-ie changed locations. I actually panicked a little when Fly-ie almost escaped on a routine trip to take the garbage out. Whew! THAT was close.

Lord of the Flies

Today the children became quickly enamored with a housefly that they spotted during dinnertime. We were having chicken noodle soup sans the chicken...which is a whole other story.... and they spotted the rather bumbly fly buzzing behind the blinds of the window directly overlooking our dinnertable. Xander claimed him as a pet and immediately named him "Fly-ie." Aria instantly decided that she wanted to name the fly "Beautiful Fly", which upset Xander to no end. I found myself explaining to Aria that Xander had dibs on naming the fly and that our new "pet's" name stood as Fly-ie. I also found myself wondering if I ought to be committed. I was then conned into cleaning up some spiderwebs on the blinds because the kids were so seriously and incredibly worried that a spider would eat Fly-ie that they couldn't focus on eating their dinner. They were literally standing on their chairs everytime Fly-ie bumbled remotely close to the web, hollering and holding their fingers to their lips in fear. Once or twice he snagged a wing on the web, which led to further freaking out and begging me to free him. He wrassled his way out upon which victories my children would cheer loudly. Skyler spotted the spider and suggested that I stab a sharp knife down the crevice to take care of Fly-ie's predator once and for all; a suggestion that made some sense, except that at this point, nothing made sense and I was not about to spider-yucky-up one of my good steak knives. I told Skyler that maybe if the fl- I mean, Fly-ie smartened up a bit and stopped paying the spiderweb visits, we could all just go back to our dinner and not worry about it. He looked at me, frustrated and upset, as if I were some heartless fool and explained as patiently as he could muster, "Mom. Flies only have a memory of about three seconds. He can't help it."
So...for now, Fly-ie lives, lucky thing. Mom:0, Kids:1

Lake Fear

We are, for the first time ever, taking our kids swimming in something that does not contain chlorine. We have planned a trip to Bear Lake next weekend. The kids are beside themselves with excitement about going to "the beach." Though we have explained that it is in fact, Bear LAKE and not Bear OCEAN, they are as excited and bewildered with anticipation as they would be if we were actually going to the Pacific coast. When the reality of our vacation hit, however, they suddenly became very cautious.

S: "Are there SHARKS in Bear Lake?"

M: "No, honey, there are no sharks."

A: "Jellyfish? What about Jellyfish?!" (the fear shining behind her eyes)

M: "No, babe. No Jellyfish either. Don't worry! You guys are going to be fine."

S: "Piranhas? Are there any piranhas in the lake?!"

M: (laughing) "No! There are none of those things in Bear Lake. It's a LAKE!"

S: "....How about electric eels?"

Xanderism: Music

X, plunking on our new piano: "Look, Daddy! There's music in that piano!!"

Skylerism: Tornado

I'm making lunch and Skyler comes into the kitchen from doing his outside chores.

S: "Mom, do you think it's possible that there's ever been a tornado in the history of America?"

M: "Yes, Skyler, there have been tornadoes in America. I'm sure of it."

S: "Oh. Well, I know that you can't go around looking for your favorite things to save and take with you, you have to just go down under."

M: "True. Very true. I'm glad you know that."

S: "But if you have your favorite things already in your hands, then it's okay to just take them with you. You don't have to put them back first."

M: "Yes. You're right. You can take them with you."

S: "But be careful, because you'll be running so fast that you might drop them, and if you drop them, you can't stop to pick them up. You have to just keep going down under."

M: "Right. That's very smart."

S: "K. Thanks, Mom. I love you."

M: "Love you too, Bud."

Xanderism: step aside, Jane Fonda

Driving home from making a D.I. donation:

X: "Mommy, do you want to see my new exercise?! It's really great! Do you want to see it?"

M: "Sure, babe."

X: "Are you looking?! Watch!"

M: "Ok, I'm watching!"

X: (curling his two pointer fingers up in front of his face) "Here it is! Watch!...."(SHOVES his fingers into his nostrils).

M: (dumbfounded) "THAT's your exercise?"

X: "Yeah!"

M: "Are you getting a good work-out?"

X: "Oh yeah, Momma!"

Xanderism: smart

X: "Mom, I wrote my name. See?!"

M: "Oh honey! That's wonderful! Who's a smart boy?"

X: "Grandpa."

Ariaism: weighty matters

M: "Aria! It says on this Mothers' Day form card you made me that you think I weigh thirty pounds!"

A: "I didn't know for sure how much you weigh so I just made my best guess. Am I close?!"

M: "Yes! You're VERY close!"