Awesome Wind

Sammy picks up expressions from TV or from his brother and sister, but he still has problems fitting the expression to the occassion.

One day, Sammy hears someone fart.

Sammy: That’s AWESOME!

* * *

Animal House

Daddy called home from the office and talked to Mummy on the phone.  Meanwhile, the children are playing horse.  Sammy is enjoying the game so much he wanted to tell Daddy what they are doing.  So he grabbed the phone from Mummy:

Sammy: It’s Achie! And Anya! And Mummy! And we are animals!

 

* * *

I’m not pushing

Domini and Pia were seated together in the big chair watching a DVD. Suddenly Pia was crying.

Pia: Daddy!  Dominic hit me!

Daddy: (angry) Dominic, why did you hit Pia?

Dominic: She was pushing me.

Pia: No I wasn’t!

Dominic: YES YOU DID!

Pia: NO  I DIDN’T!!!

Daddy: Did you push Dominic, Pia?

Pia: No I didn’t. 

Daddy: Why did he say you were pushing him? What were you doing?

Pia: I was bumping him.

Daddy: Why were you bumping him?

Pia: Because I wanted to?

* * *

Duck Migration 2

After establishing that ducks migrate to the desert during winter to get away from the cold…

Pia: If ducks go to the desert, then they will have no water to drink.  So they need to bring their water bottles.

* * *

Duck Migration

At lunch, planning tomorrow’s trip.

Dominic: Can we go to the park where the ducks are?

Daddy: Ok, but I think the ducks won’t be there. It’s winter, and ducks migrate when it’s winter. Do you know where they go during winter?

Pia: Where?

Daddy: They go to a warmer place.

Pia: I know!  They go to the desert!

* * *

Melody Through the Wind

Dominic and Pia recently watched Ice Age 2, The Meltdown. One of the characters sang a very memorable one-line rendition of “I believe I can fly”, and the children frequently recalled that line whenever they played.

One day, Pia plopped on the sofa, head down:

Pia: (singing) “I believe I can fart!”

* * *

Talk to the phone

Daddy and Pia in the kitchen, eating.  Daddy hears Mummy talking on the phone.

Daddy: Who is Mummy talking to?

Pia: (without looking up from her plate) She’s talking to the telephone.

* * *

Brushing your teeth

We want Sammy to acquire the habint of always brushing his teeth before going to bed, so Mummy always reminds him, “Sammy, brush your teeth”. 

But Sammy is still confused about the difference between “my” and “your”.  One night, in the living room:

Mummy: Where is Sammy?

Sammy comes running in from the kitchen, toothbrush in hand.

Sammy: I’m brushing your teeth!

… and then runs back to the kitchen.

* * *

Another way we are different from the animals

Over lunch one day:

Dominic: Daddy, I remembered in the move ‘Over the Hedge’, near the end of the movie, the squirrel drank something that made him move super fast.

Daddy: Yes, he drank a can of cola.  Cola has caffeine and caffeine made him very alert and very active.

Dominic: Oh. 

(We don’t drink soft drinks at home unless there’s a birthday, so the children aren’t very familiar with Coke, or Pepsi, etc.)

Daddy: Coffee has caffeine too.

Dominic: What is caffeine for?

Daddy: People drink caffeine so they stay awake.

Dominic: (Pondering…) Is that why we don’t hibernate?

* * *

Hot and Cold

Sammy picks up various phrases from watching cartoons. Sometimes he understands them.  Sometimes he doesn’t.  Sometimes he almost does. He recently picked up ‘hot cocoa’. 

One day while holding his cup of cold orange juice:

Sammy: Mummy, my hot cocoa is cold!

* * *

Tie’d Up

A couple of months ago, Pia got some drawing paper, drew a necktie, coloured it with crayon, cut it up, punched a hole in the paper necktie, tied a piece of string, and presented it to Daddy as a gift.

Pia: (beaming and proud) Here Daddy, I made you a tie.

Daddy: Thank you, Pia. It’s beautiful.

 

The inevitable question came up today:

Pia: Daddy, how come you never wear the tie I made?

* * *

Stay

Sammy has started to want to pick up the phone each time it rings. And when he grabs it, it’s very hard to make him let go and pass the phone to Mummy.  It’s starting to become a struggle between Mummy and Sammy.  Each one is starting to devise techniques to make sure they grab the phone first.

One day, the phone rings.  Sammy runs to the phone and picks it up. He sees Mummy coming. 

Sammy: (stretches open palm towards Mummy) Stay! Stay!

* * *

Coughing the Apple

Sammy calls an apple ‘apoo’. One day, Sammy and Pia are seated beside each other at the dining table, eating apples.  Sammy started coughing, and directed his mouth towards Pia and her apple.

Pia: Mummy! Sammy is coughing at me!

Mummy: Sammy, stop coughing at Achie.

Sammy: No! I coughing the apoo!

* * *

Memory Device

Daddy had to step out of the house and come back shortly. Mummy was asleep.  So Daddy was instructing the children on how to answer the door safely:

Daddy: What should you do when you hear a knock on the door?

Dominic: We don’t open it.

Pia: We ask “Who are you?”

Daddy: Correct. 

Dominic: What if they say “It’s Daddy"?”

Daddy: Well, you know my voice, right? So if it’s not my voice, don’t open it.

Dominic: Or we can look through the glass (the peephole)

Daddy: Yes, and you can see if it’s me.

Pia: Can you draw us a picture of your face so we don’t forget what you look like?

* * *

Identity Crisis

Mummy always reminds Sammy to wash his hands before eating: “Come Sammy, let’s wash your hands first.”, or “tell Daddy to wash your hands”

One day, Mummy served some donuts. 

Sammy: Can I eat donuts?

Mummy: Yes.

Sammy pulls a chair towards the sink:

Mummy: Sammy, what are you doing?

Sammy: (in his Mickey Mouse voice) I want to wash your hands!

* * *

Pia meets science

One day, while reading her textbook:

Pia: (reading) “Matter is anything that takes up space and has weight.  Matter is made up of invisible particles called atoms.”

Daddy: You are matter.  I am matter. The TV is matter.

Pia: (tentative) Is milk matter?

Daddy: Yes.  And because you are matter, you are made up of atoms.

Pia: (pondering) You’re making me feel strange.

Daddy: Daddy is made up of atoms.  We are all made up of atoms.

Pia: Now I really feel strange.  My mind is getting mixed up. Stop it!

* * *

Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and give the truck to God

It’s bedtime and it’s Pia’s turn to lead the prayer.  One of the prayers is the Glory Be.  Sometimes she gets the words wrong:

Pia: Lorry be to the Father, and to the Son…

* * *

Upload me

We uploaded a video of Dominic solving his Rubik’s cube.  We put him on YouTube. 

He enjoyed it so much that one day…

Dominic: Daddy, can you put me in the news?

* * *

Which math of the year is it?

Daddy lecturing Dominic and Pia.

Daddy: You are lucky. When your Mum and Dad were your age, our parents didn’t have to teach us.  We studied our school lessons on our own: Reading, Writing, Math,…

Pia: … April, May, June.

* * *

The solution to any question

Daddy has made Pia’s math assignments a little harder. Before, she gets simple math expressions and just has to solve them.  But now she gets word problems and she has to come up with the math expression herself before solving it.

Today’s problem: Jane has 36 apples. She gives 12 apples to David. How many apples does Jane have left?

Pia: I don’t know how to answer this.

Daddy: Just read the question and understand it.

Pia: I DID!

Daddy: <frustration> Think. What are we looking for?  What do we want find out?

Pia:  (hesitantly…) The answer?

* * *