One morning, Tobias woke up crying. I asked him what was wrong and he said, "I'm speaking a different language! No one can understand me!" He didn't talk throughout the morning but when we got in the van to drive him to playcare so I could go to work he was practicing saying words with exaggerated enunciation. "Maaa-maa, mama. ToBIuhs, Tobias. caaaat, Cat." He also said his ABCs. By the time we pulled up to the playcare he announced, "My language is fixed now. I'm speaking English again." If only the people at the tower of Babel had this technique.
David John loves to make up stories. Last year we reached a point where he was telling us multiple "stories" a day but trying to convince us they were true. He's pretty convincing a lot of the time. Anyway, we made a rule that he could tell us one lie a day as long as he told us it wasn't true before he went to bed and as long as it didn't cause any trouble. He really enjoyed this idea and it kind of became a game. When he would tell me something about school that seemed just a little bit off I would ask say, "Wait a minute, is this your lie of the day?" He would smile and giggle and nod his head. What we failed to think through was what would happen if he started telling other people his untrue stories. Last Spring, I landed in the hospital with that lovely kidney stone and David John had to go stay with a friend for a few days. Apparently, he told this friend that he was excited to sleep over because at home, he has to sleep in the trunk of the car and it's kind of cold and dark and cramped. His friend believed him. That night, his friend's mom showed him the guest room and told him to get ready for bed and she would come check on him to make sure he was all set. When she came back, David John had made a nest on the floor with blankets and pillows. She said, "David John, you can sleep on the bed," He replied with a straight face, "That's okay, the floor is still better than the trunk." When that kid makes up a story, he commits. Of course the mom knew it wasn't true but I think his friend may still believe that David John sleeps in a trunk.
Tobias has a problem with drawing on things that he should not with markers. This includes drawing on his body. One day, he approached me with this mark on his forehead:
Remember that friend David John stayed with? His mother is our friend and his friend happens to be in his 1st grade class at school this year. David John got us into trouble with our friend because apparently David John told her son at school that, "Santa Claus is just an elaborate scheme made up by parents to trick kids into being good. The parents are the ones who really give the presents and fill the stockings." She was understandably upset because her son believed David John and some of the magic was lost from their Christmas. We apologized profusely. We had no idea that David John didn't believe in Santa so we decided we better have a talk with him at home. The talk went something like this:
"David John, did you tell your friend that Santa was an elaborate scheme made up by parents?"
"Yes."
"Why would you say that? Now your friend is really sad."
"Oh, he believed me? It was just my lie of the day! I know Santa is real!"
Facepalm.
Tobias met someone named Cassidy who happened to have a broken arm. As we were leaving the playcare Tobias informed me, "Her name is Castidy. That's because she has a cast on her arm. That's why they named her Castidy." I didn't laugh, but I couldn't stop myself from smiling. I love little kid logic.
Marc has started to let the boys watch some Simpsons episodes with him. I have mixed feelings about this as the Simpsons definitely has some inappropriate content and my parents were firmly in the no Simpsons camp when I was growing up. However, I decided as long as he is choosing the episodes carefully and we are keeping an open dialogue we should be okay. Anyway, David John has been super into acronyms of late so he decided that SIMPSONS must stand for something. He came up with the following fairly on-point meaning: Some Inappropriate Married People Sitting On Negative Sausages. So close, I think Neutral Sofas would have really rounded it out nicely. But still. Well done, dude.
Speaking of Simpsons, there is a funny clip that features a little boy named Tobias who happens to be Australian. Tobias' dad gets a large phone bill because Bart called Tobias collect to find out if the toilets really flushed counterclockwise. Anyway, the dad exclaims, "Nine-hundred dollary-doos! Tobias! Did you accept a six hour collect call from the states?!?" Tobias responds, "It was an emergency call from the international drainage commission in Springfield." Our Tobias has been getting into a lot of naughtiness lately so Marc tried to teach him to respond to our unhappy shouts of "Tobias!" with "It was an emergency" in an Australian accent. Marc figured that would take the tension right out of situations like discovering that Tobias had literally rolled in the mud and then tracked it through the entire house, or finding a stash of half eaten apples hidden behind the couch. Tobias just can't quite do it, Now, when we yell "Tobias!" he responds, "Nine-hundred dollary-doos!" with a terrible Australian accent. It still makes us laugh. Mission accomplished.
As promised, here are pictures of David John and Tobias at the same ages. People think Gabriel and Elijah look alike. They've got nothing on these two. Can you tell who's who?
How fabulous to see that you are posting! I laughed and giggled. Keep it up!
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