Row Row Row

Papa taught the kids a new song: Row row row the boat.

They learned the original version, and then Papa taught them the alternative version:

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Throw the teacher overboard
And listen to her scream

Mama: What? I don't want them to learn that!

Papa: (Singing original version several times)

Sarah: Row row row your boat, throw the teacher in the wadder!

Good Examples

(Mama and Papa had a disagreement.)

Sarah: Mama, be nice! Papa, that's not good!

Mama, say sorry to Papa and give him a hug!

Papa, say sorry to me for not being a good example!

Sarah's Song

Sarah (singing): Me gusta ir a McDonalds. 

Me gusta ir a muchos lados

(I like to go to McDonald's .. I like to go a lot of places)

(The two lines rhyme as she pronounces them.)

Eating Babies

Sarah has concluded all by herself that mothers eat their babies, since, of course, they have them in their tummies.

Sometimes she has crackers in her hand and says that they are babies that she is eating.

Papa (testing her reaction): Sarah, when you were very little, Mama ate you up, and that is why you were in her tummy.

Sarah (laughs): Silly Papa!

(Maybe she is growing out of it now.)

Fast Food

Mama/Papa at McDonalds/In-N-Out to Sarah/Stephen:

"Eat your burger! No more fries until you eat another bite of burger!"

(Repeat for other junk food like pizza.)

Yes, we know, we are terrible parents.

(But better to eat out once in a blue moon than have our cook suffer a nervous breakdown, right?)

The Crib

Stephen has discovered that he can climb out of his crib. 

So, now our threat of: "Stephen-don't-do-that-or-you're-going-in-the-crib!" has lost its power to bring order to our house.

Sigh.

Baby On Board

Remember those Baby On Board signs that were popular a couple of decades ago? I remember people making fun of the idea: "Hey, please drive more carefully around my car, since I have a baby in here." Because, what, am I not going to decide not to crash into your car just because of that sign?

However, now as a parent, I realize the real purpose of those signs: To warn other drivers ahead of time of erratic driving caused by the driver frequently turning around and yelling at the back seat.

College

Papa: Bricela, remember that college is also a time to go to parties and have fun.

Sarah (to Bricela): I can go to a party with you and dress me up like a rabbit!

Stocking Up

The family took a trip to local restaurant surplus store American Discount Foods this morning after hitting the Y. The store was having a big 1/2 price sale so we took advantage to buy a whole bunch of junk food for our upcoming cross-country trek to visit Grandma & Grandpa's house. Anything to not spend too much on food on the way, I guess.

Stephen is at that age where he does not like to sit in the cart but rather likes to wriggle out of the straps, stand up and almost fall out until Mama or Papa grabs him and carries him. Or maybe it's because he's a boy.

Bird

We Saw This Really Big Bird At The Park
(Guess It Was A Gray Crane)
Then Had To Run Grab The Kids To Keep
Them From Falling Into The Lake

Uh-Oh

I remember that when I was a kid, I got a taste of some mildly alcoholic root beer that my dad was making, and it tasted so bad to me that even now as an adult I still don't like the flavor of alcohol. So you might figure that the same thing would work with the kids. But the only problem is that when they tasted it, they liked it. Now what. (Don't worry, nobody let them drink any).

Geese Attack

We were hanging out at the park when we noticed some ducks out on the lake. We had some crackers so we decided to go try to feed the ducks some crackers.

We walked over to the water and threw a cracker towards a duck. It seemed to respond well and not be frightened away. In fact, it honked and some other ducks started swimming over.

We were going through crackers fast as the ducks came over within throwing distance in the water. Mama suggested breaking the crackers in half so that there would be more pieces to throw. Papa, against his better judgement, broke a cracker in half and tried to throw it. It did not go nearly as far and landed on the ground just short of the lake.

By this time our activity had captured the attention of some Canada geese who were also on the lake and they had swum over near us.

Papa: I wonder if they will come out of the water to pick up the piece of cracker. I don't think they will.

At this moment the geese spring out of the water to attack the cracker piece, then sort of look at each other and then charge straight at us. I try throwing one or two crackers to them as the geese start closing in, obviously wanting more. I grab Sarah and yell to Mama to grab Stephen as I throw the bag of crackers into the middle of the mob of geese as we run away as fast as we can.