Say it like it is...

Children say whatever is on their minds.  Good or bad, it doesn't matter.  As a parent, I find it both entertaining, and embarrassing at times.  One evening while we were sitting on the front porch of our friends', Angel and Mike, house visiting with them, their son was in their backyard with his own friends building a fire in their fire pit.  At one point Mike went to the edge of the porch where he could oversee the teenagers building fire, which can be scary.  As he was yelling some instructions, or discipline, to them, Fuss ran up beside him and pushed his face into the railing and yelled right along side of Mike.  When Mike was done, Fuss was done too.  I wish I knew what was on Fuss' mind at that point.  With the older boys I get to know...

Every night before bed the boys take a shower.  One night as Moo was exiting the bathroom I noticed that his hair was still dry.  Wondering how this could be since he was instructed to wash his hair, I asked him if he had in fact washed his hair.  He rolled his eyes at me in response before saying, "yes."  "Really," I started in (remember he is a bad liar), "did you use shampoo?"  He rolled his eyes again before muttering my name in annoyance.  So, I continued, "Did you even use soap on your body, or did you just get in the tub and play?"  He looked up at me and said, "You ask too many questions!"  Yep, I've heard that before.

When D gets excited about a subject he is discussing, he has a tendency to raise his voice a bit, which can sometimes sound like he is yelling.  When he is angry he does yell (who doesn't).  One day, while we were sitting in the kitchen, we started discussing something (I don't remember what) that D seemed extremely passionate about, and that I didn't catch on to (it could have been a number of things).  In his frustration of trying to explain things to me, his voice got a bit louder than normal.  Finally I looked at him and said, "You don't have to yell it.  I am right here."  To which Skater quickly interjected, "Oh, he isn't yelling at you, but he yells so much it just sounds like it because that is what his voice is used to."  Oh, how happy I was with this proclamation of truth, and D...not so much!

A week or so ago we were at a barbecue at D's cousin's home.  As the boys were playing, Olie became very frustrated with his brothers and decided that they were not being very nice, and were picking on him.  He announced to D and I that he didn't want to play with them anymore and that he was considering skipping the sleepover they were planning to have that night at Nana's (D's mom).  We told him, of course, that it was his decision, and we would deal with his brothers according to their actions.  Later on, as we were preparing to leave, Moo begged us to let him ride home with Nana and Papa.  Since we live less than a mile from them, and the boys were spending the night at their house, we agreed.  Olie and Skater were already in our car by the time this request was made and granted.  So, as D and I got in the car and started to pull away, a concerned Olie asked us where Moo was.  I told him, "Moo got too whiney so, we decided to get rid of him."  To which Olie replied, "YES! One down, one to go!"  At least he didn't hold back...