Plunder

Emma finished eating her lunch and I cleaned her off. She started to walk away, stopped and turned and asked me, "Can I go forth and plunder?"

John doesn't ask. The fact that he doesn't talk is no excuse for poor manners. This morning while I was blow drying my hair and basking in glory of my kids playing quietly together so happily, John got a hold of a new box of tissues. He pulled out and shredded then entire box. I should learn never to bask. Basking is the source of all plunder.

Clothes

Emma said family prayers last night. She asked that the doctors would be able to help Ben's eye and that they would wear clothes. Actually it wasn't entirely clear if the prayer was that Ben wears clothes or that the doctors wear clothes. Either way, I am sure that is Ben's prayer too.

Tigers

Emma: Mom, do we cut out tiger teeth.
Me: No, we don't cut out tiger teeth. We don't want to eat tiger teeth.

Repeat this conversation three times.

Emma: No, do we cut out tiger teeth so they don't bite us.
Me: Oh, no we just stay away from tigers and then they won't bite us.

Jokes

I think that John told his first joke last night. It is kind of subjective since he doesn't actually talk. At dinner we started feeding John before everyone else because he was really hungry. There was a bit of chaos in the final preparations so I only looked up when I heard giggling from John.

He had put a handful of pasta sauce in his hair and was giggling. Then he took it out, stopped giggling and but broccoli in his hair and commenced giggling again. When he took the broccoli out of his hair he stopped giggling. It was pretty funny. I hope he learns to tell funny jokes that don't require a bath afterwards.

This got me thinking about Emma and jokes. Sometimes when I would make her laugh she would say, "You are making me funny!"

Noise

John has developed a love of noise. He gravitates towards noisy toys. Even better than noisy toys are my pots and pans on my tile floor. There are some days where I hide in my room while the kids bang my pots and pans on my floor. Then John discovered he could drop the lids on the floor. Today he made an even better discovery - he can throw the lids on the floor. I lost it at that point and took away the lid so he found another lid. I am ready to lock up my cupboard. Unfortunately, Emma knows how to open the child proof locks.

John does not embrace all noise though. He hates my wheat grinder. He runs away crying. He is unsure about the vacuum cleaner and will hover close, but not too close while I am cleaning. So maybe he just likes the noise that he generates and not other people...

Today he also "played a game" with me. More like he thought we were playing a game. He would scream this awful high pitched scream. Then I would in all seriousness "shhh" him. He would smile and scream again. Repeat cycle. I was really trying hard to communicate my serious intent and it didn't seem to phase him at all. My only thought was, "is this the only time he will do this or is this permanent and will he do this at church?" Time will tell.

Imaginary Friends

Emma has 2 imaginary friends, at least the main characters anyway. There are some supporting cast.

1. Avrin

Avrin is a girl and her cousin. Avrin is older than Emma but Emma still walks around explaining things to her and teaching her things.

2. Chip

Chip is a 43 year old blue monster that helps Emma. Where ever Aaron goes, Chip goes. In fact they car pool together and work in the same building. Chip has a mother named Shrink and a father named Brother Shrink.

Emma tells countless stories of where Chip helps her. For example, she was getting eaten by a tiger and Chip helped her today.

At bedtime tonight it was Emma's turn to say the prayer. Sometimes she says the prayers so fast that you would think she was an auctioneer. Tonight she was saying the prayer v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. She paused after each word, and sometimes syllable. She even blessed Chip in her prayer. After she finished she explained that she didn't know how to say a prayer and so Chip helped her say the prayer. It really sounded like a prayer in primary where someone whispers into the ear of a small child. Aaron and I had a hard time not busting a gut.

The Social Security Office

Emma: I want to go to the social security [office].
Me: What do you want to do at the social security office?
Emma: Run around and play chase.
Me: [giggling]
Emma: I didn't tell a funny joke.