Cute Sayings

I received the following e-mail from my father today: Would you send me some cute things the kids, you, and/or ML have said lately? We were talking about that at lunch today—me, S, and B—and I was having to dig a bit.

S & B are the ladies he works with. S has elementary-ish-aged kids at home. B has grandkids. Apparently, to be cool, you have to have cute kids sayings to share at the lunch table. Kind of like junior high, only different.

Seriously, S & B are awesome ladies and love to hear all about my kids and send them things when my parents come to visit, etc. I wouldn't want to let them down. Plus, I recognized the potential for a two-for-one: an e-mail to my dad, and a blog post topic*. Cha-ching (in spite of the fact that I write that out all the time, I actually never/rarely say it IRL [in real life], just so you know).

So, here was my response (only I typed out the names; I'm not so concerned with security in my e-mails to my father):

Cute things the kids have said recently:

ZL, when asked how old he is will say, "Ba three!" I have no idea what the "Ba" means, but he says it every time. He will also sometimes say, "Ba three!" when you ask him how he is. You have to really emphasize, "How are you?" if you want to get "Fine, thank 'oo"

We did some Christmas shopping this past weekend. While agonizing over a selection of Berenstain Bear books for JW to choose from to buy for MA (he has enough trouble making choices for himself, much less others), I had the great idea that he could just get all of his siblings iTunes gift certificates. They would all love getting to choose show episodes, and he wouldn't have to make any choices himself. His response? "Do I still have to spend any money?" :-l The child hates to let go of a single kirsch. He's saving it, because he might need it when he's an adult, you know.

MA, after reading a couple of the American Girl books, now has a Polly Pocket named Jo-Hanna. I gently explained that, even though the name is written Johanna, it's pronounced Joanna. Nope. The Polly's name is Jo-Hanna.

MS, hm, he doesn't say that many "cute" things anymore. Witty, yes, but none are coming to mind right now. Unless you count the fact that he delights in holding up gruesome video games or DVD's at stores and saying, "Look, I found one that's just perfect for our family! Let's get it!" To which I always reply (with false cheeriness), "Oh, wonderful! Let's!" or something like that. Kind of a reverse psychological way of letting me know he's internalized the family values.

So, there you go. I realized as I was cutting and pasting, that he asked for cute things that ML and I had said, too. Not too many off of the top of my head. I'll have to ponder that for a little while. I'll get back to you, if I think of anything.

*Beats telling about the dental visit today during which all six of us got our teeth cleaned and only two threw fits (not me, this time!). Although my dad would probably be pleased to hear that I'm taking care of my expensive, more-straightened-than-they-would-be-without-those-braces-that-mom-went-back-to-work-to-pay-for teeth, too. No cavities! Woo hoo!