Boy Quotes

Adam loudly fake belches in front of David.  “Did that sound like real burp?” David: “No.”  Adam: “Well, Mommy’s a lot easier to fool than you are.” Comes to find me.  “I think you must be a fish.  You can just cast some bait in front of you that doesn’t look natural and you think it’s real.  Actually, I think you’re a small mouth bass because you can be pretty feisty, too.”

I tried valiantly to teach both boys the German dialect I learned before I spoke English.  Adam spoke it until he was two and then suddenly switched gears and refused to use a word of “Pennsylvania Dutch.” I kept on, even switching to German halfway through a sentence; but finally I gave up.  It is HARD to speak one language when you’re always being spoken to in another.  It wasn’t that important to me that they knew this particular language as it seemed like a disservice not to teach them a second while it’s so easily absorbed.  One day when Adam was four my mom asked him why he doesn’t talk dutch.  Adam: “Men don’t talk dutch.”  Oh.  I tried again with Liam and lost out quickly.  Now that Zara is here, the boys are on my team.  They hate that I can call my mom and sisters and talk a full conversation in front of them without them knowing what I’m talking about.  Suddenly they’re all about learning.  Tonight at dinner we were learning words and sentences. **** Disclaimer: I only speak this language and have never learned to read or write it so I’m only sounding out words as they sound to me. **** We’d just learned, “Vit du essu,” which means, “Do you want to eat.”  Adam said, “Does, ‘vit du winky’ mean do you want a drink?”

It was another night at dinner with run of the mill conversation.  Liam counts everything right now and suddenly piped up with, “Well, I guess you’re the dad of three kids.”  David: “Yes.”  Adam: “Do you feel that responsibility pretty heavily?  I mean, pretty soon Zara’s going to want her own fishing tackle.”

The boys are so different in personality and sometimes a little behavior issues break out when one person’s strength shows up another’s weakness.  Liam takes the brunt of this because Adam has an large age advantage.  When we referee the conversations, we talk about how different people have strengths given to them naturally.  They love this.  One night soon after an episode of the sort Adam looked at me and asked, “So what are you good at, Mommy?”  It was one of those days where you feel like you are never actually going to get one section of life pulled together and I was too tired to think.  “Oh, the only thing I’m a pro at is being a mom to you guys.”  Adam shrugged a bit and said, “No, you’re pretty good at clearing the dishwasher, too.”  I’ll remember that the next time I fill out a resume.

In May we traveled to Virginia for an ordination since David’s brother was in the lot.  If you’re not familiar with conservative Mennonite culture and customs, most pastors are ordained by lot as opposed to choosing a vocation and being hired.  The voice of the church is taken through vote and a pre-determined percentage of votes determines who will be in the lot.  It is a heavy week for all involved and since David’s dad is the bishop, he felt it all very keenly.  He is also a very poised man and always gracious.  We stayed with David’s parents for the weekend and on into Monday since David had to travel to Richmond to do family work.  The next morning Adam was downstairs eating breakfast and talking as much as he ate like usual.  They were talking about the ordination when Grandma said that Grandpa is very tired. Adam: “Why would that make you tired?”  Grandma: “Well, you see, it’s a lot of responsibility.” Adam: “I thought it looked like you were having fun up there.” Before the laughter had a chance to subside he added, “Isn’t that kind of deceptive?” (to look like you’re having fun when you’re not?)

The boys were riding with a friend who asked them what their dad does at camp.  Liam: “Well, he entertains the boys when they come to camp.” Adam loudly and indignantly: “No, Liam, he INTERVIEWS them.”

We were driving home from hanging out at the creek when Adam said, “I’m just so infewated with flyfishing.”  I knew he’d just had an unlucky afternoon but thought it was a little much to be infuriated.  “What?”  Adam: “I’m just so into it.”  Me: “Oh.  You mean infatuated.”  Adam: “Oh, yeah.”  So there you go.  Need a new word? Try infewated.

• ← But now I am SIX
• Creating Community →