Here are some collected sayings from the children over the last couple months--and finally Lydia and Abby are joining in on the fun (even if Josiah still outshines them in the talking department)!
1. Overheard
Josiah went through a stint of obsession with the story of Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection. Every day for a couple weeks he requested "when Jesus died" as his pre-nap story. (We've used
The Jesus Storybook Bible and Tomie dePaola's illustrated
Book of Bible Stories lately.) I think he's genuinely interested in the story itself and its meaning--and he has asked many good questions. But he also loves seeing all the pictures of weapons, and each time we come to the Gethsemane arrest, he points out all the swords and knives he, too, would like to have. Naturally, some of his play and conversation topics stem from his focus on the story . . . and the weapons.
Thus I overheard him say to his sister one day, "Hey, I not cut your ear off, Lydia!"
Lydia and Josiah
Josiah likes to pull out the guitar Anna and Justin gave him last year; he strums it and makes up somewhat tuneless songs. One of the oft-repeated songs went, "Jesus died! The soldiers killed him. . ."
And then I heard Abby's imitation a few days later: "Jesus died! Jesus died! Amen! Bum-bump!" She ends most of her songs with "Amen! Bum-bump!" (from our common ending of Josiah's favorite dinnertime song, "The Appleseed Song").
Abby and Josiah
2. Of Books and Characters
I chuckle to see my kids doing what I remember my sisters doing: "claiming" characters and items in books as they page through. Hannah and Rach used to get into fights over who got to be which girl, which food each got to eat, etc. Sometimes upon a page turn they'd pounce on a picture of a food item and pretend to gobble it up before Sister could get at it. Of course, this resulted in wails from the disenfranchised one.
Anyway, Josiah and the girls (especially Lydia) like to label characters in books. Lydia points to a different character in turn and says, "Abby! Siah! Me! Mommy! Daddy!"
Josiah hugging Lydia
And anytime Josiah says he's a particular character (lately Sergeant Murphy), Lydia affirms, "Me--Sar-ent Murry!"
Josiah objects: "Hey!
Both of us can't be Sergeant Murphy!"
Josiah continues to love Richard Scarry books, and we checked
Pie Rats Ahoy out of the library some weeks ago. When it's not lost, we read it often--and Josiah has expanded his vocabulary from the reading of it ("What's 'heave-ho,' Mom? What does 'beware' mean?") In the pirate/pie rats vein (he still says the latter), I overheard him one day saying indignantly to Abby, "Hey, why are you playing with landlubbers?"
3. Bathroom Conversation
Josiah likes to take a looong bathroom break from nap time
when he gets the chance (and urge). He sits on the toilet, I wait with a
wipe, and I try to keep him from being too loud and waking the girls.
Usually he takes the opportunity to talk--a lot.
Last week our conversation morphed into a
discussion of work, Daddy, and growing up:
Josiah: "Daddy's at work. When I grow up, I'm gonna go to work. . . . [with a big grin and glint in his eye] and eat CANDY!"
(This
is what he believes Jeremy does at work all day, since the few times
he's been to Jeremy's office, he's gotten some sort of candy.)
Josiah (on the toilet): "Who is in my poop, Mom?"
Me: "No one is in your poop."
Josiah, objecting: "Hey! Jesus is in my heart!"
Josiah (supposed to be washing hands after using the toilet, but instead gagging on his fingers): "If I swallow my fingers down my throat, they'll come out in my poop!"
4. Miscellaneous Conversations and (Mis)Information
Jeremy reported Josiah's first experiments with logical propositions:
Jeremy: "What do monkeys like to eat?"
Josiah: "Bananas. And . . . only bananas! . . . Hey, Lydia and Abby like to eat bananas. Lydia and Abby are monkeys?!"
The monkey sisters
Josiah, at the dinner table: "I'm gonna be a farmer when I grow up. I'm gonna have chickens and goats. Abby, you gonna be a wife."
Jeremy: "Abby and Lydia could be farmers, too. What do you girls want to be?"
Josiah: "No. They gonna be wifes."
Lydia
Abby
Lydia and Abby were waiting in their chairs for me to clean them up after lunch.
Abby, singing sweetly about Lydia: "Li-lla, Li-lla, Li-lla, Li-lla!"
Lydia, mad-faced, swatting at Abby: "No! No!"
Me: "Lydia, don't hit her. Abby is just singing a song about what a nice Lydia you are."
Lydia, pooching out her lips defiantly: "No nice me."
Lydia
Lydia
Abby
The kids were playing in a large mud puddle of their own creation (they dumped out the water table I had filled for them). I discovered Josiah had stripped . . .
Me: "Josiah, why aren't you wearing pants or undies?"
Josiah: "From . . . I wanted to dip my bum in it!"
Josiah's rendition of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" made me smile a bit ruefully at the truth of his words: "Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is not your dream."
Josiah's piece of useful information shared during a car trip: "Mom, angels come out when it gets dark at night."
