Ummmmmm......

I had one of those "I have no idea what to say" Mommy moments yesterday at lunch. Here's how it went down:

Graeme: Mommy, do babies come out of your belly button?
Me (wondering when he stopped believing that mommies poop out babies): Ummmm, no.
Graeme: Well, where do babies come out?
Me: Ummmmmm.......
Chloe (with an all-knowing smirk): Graeme, it's private.
Graeme: What?
Me: Ummmmmm.......
Chloe (still smirking): Graeme, babies come out your privates.
Me: Chloe!
Graeme: Ohhhh.
Me: Graeme, I'll explain it to you when you're a little older.
Graeme: Okay, like when I'm 25? I'll have my wife by then.
Me: Yeah. 25 will be great.

The funny thing is, we've had this conversation before and (fortunately) my kids don't seem to want to discuss how babies are made, just how they come out. But we haven't talked about it for awhile so it just really caught me off-guard. The problem is, my kids usually won't settle for the easy answer so if I had told them that babies do indeed come out of belly buttons, lunch would have been abandoned for a vigorous and lengthy inspection of everybody's belly buttons. And, I have no idea when Chloe figured out where babies come out. I guess if you're a girl it's just a matter of logic, but this probably means I'd better start anticipating awkward questions from her. Incidentally, Graeme has already informed me that he and his wife and children will be living with me in this house for the rest of our lives. Boy, a children's anti-aging serum would sure come in handy right about now......

Chloe on a horse

I was just looking at the top picture on the right (Chloe on a horse) and it made me remember the first time we put Chloe on a pony ride. I think it was the State Fair and she was maybe 3 years old. She was so excited she couldn't hardly stand it and when she finally got on the pony she started hollering at all the bystanders:

"Look at me! I'm riding a horse! Hey Lady! Look at me! I'm riding a horse!"

All the other kids, of course, were too busy hanging on for dear life to even look at their parents, let alone shout their joy to the whole world.

I have to say, I can't think of a single experience we've had since that is a more apt summary of Chloe. She does not now and never has hidden her light under a bushel. I sincerely hope she never changes.

Skiing

My baby girl went skiing with her classmates today. She's never been skiing before! Now, I realize that she's almost 10 years old, which is one of the reasons I didn't go with her, but I have to admit that I'm pretty freaked out by the whole thing. What if she gets lost? What if she breaks her leg? What if some monster takes her? What if she has a meltdown? What if she's sick and I didn't notice before she left and it develops into pneumonia?

My head hurts.

Little Things

A couple of nights ago while we were getting the kids ready for bed, we were watching a show about skunks on PBS. There was a man on the show who runs a refuge for skunks (he apparently can't smell the skunk stink which is why he got into the skunk business). Anyway, this guy rescued four baby orphan skunks and raised them. At the end of the show he released them back into the wild.

When this happened, I realized that Graeme was becoming very agitated. I asked him what was wrong and found out that he was upset because the skunks were going to be alone. I reassured him that they were wild animals and they would be just fine but he became more and more upset until he was crying for these poor baby skunks. What a tender heart!

A little while later I was trying to get Kai in the tub and he and Graeme decided that they both needed to use the potty at the same time. The usual screaming, pushing and crying ensued but when I rushed into the bathroom (to prevent bodily harm), I discovered that Graeme had convinced Kai they could go at the same time. So there they both were, in their birthday suits, peeing to their hearts' content. I laughed so hard I cried. Kai later told me (very proudly) that they made an X. The best part is that now Kai is trying to convince Chloe that the two of them can pee at the same time! As much as Chloe always wants to join in on anything, I somehow doubt that this is going to happen.

Finally, Kai was having mini corn dogs for lunch a few days ago. He was making rocket-like noises and flying the corn dogs into his mouth so I asked him if the corn dogs were rockets. He got that funny look on his face, the one that says: "I'm doing something I think is hilarious and I don't really want to share it with you" and told me the corn dogs weren't rockets. "Well what are they, then?" I asked. "They're bombs!" he said, and started laughing and making bomb explosion noises. What a goofball!

I guess it's these everyday little things that really make this life worth living after all.

Chloe's in the news

Chloe's opera made it into the newpaper. She's even in the big picture at the top of the article. Check it out at:
www.hjnews.townnews.com/news/

Scroll down to August 4th and click on The Children of the Opera

Chloe is Exceptional

My hubby took Chloe to her parent-teacher conference this morning. She's doing spectacular! Her scores on almost every reading test are off the charts! She's only in 3rd grade but she's reading at a 5th grade level. She turns in all her homework and scores 100% on all her in-class assignments. Her behavior has even improved. Hooray! She scored in the top 10% (of the whole country) on the Iowa standarized test they took. Her score was so high they gave her a certificate. She really is amazing.
Now I just need to convince the district to come up with a gifted and talented magnet program. Hmmmm...........