Three...that's the magic number

A few weeks ago I heard Laszlo talking to Lily. She accidentally said, "Back when I was a little boy..." Laszlo said, "Lily, you used to be a little boy? What happened, you had gender assignment surgery?"

I jumped in. I asked what he was talking about. He said, "Mommy, you told me that people can change their gender by gender assignment surgery."

I had no recollection of that conversation, but I DO tell them stuff like that if the subject comes up. I told him it was gender REassignment surgery. But like, months ago. And he remembered it. The kid's brain is such a vault, and he uses everything appropriately, even if it's just been filed away for ages.

I went to Laszlo's "Writers' Celebration" in his class. One of the boys was having some difficulty reading and Laszlo said, "Frankie needs to practice his fluency." I almost choked on my corn muffin.

Ella will be three in a month. She is so gorgeous and funny that she takes my breath away. She is obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba. She has the small figurines of the characters and she sits quietly for hours making them talk to each other and sing the songs from the show. She adds other toys to the mix. I have to videotape her because it's so precious and funny.

Robert bought her a Barbie doll the other day and she keeps calling it "Barley." So now I ask her to say the doll's name and she says, "Barley is a dinosaur, magic magic-ation."

She's also started calling me Momma instead of Mommy. All the kids did this for some reason and I just love it every time. The other two went back to Mommy after a while...I'm hoping Ella sticks with the Momma.

Lily is still all that's sweet and good in the world, but she has been feeling her oats a little and being a bit annoying. She's been deliberately irritating Laszlo and Ella and even me sometimes, just to get a reaction. I guess being good becomes boring after a while - not that I'd know. ;-)

This morning Laszlo was rushing to do his homework. He had to think of five ways we use numbers every day. Lily was coming up with a few and he was frustrated that he couldn't.

Laszlo: I can't believe Lily is smarter than me.
Lily: Don't say that! You teach me all the smart stuff.

Laszlo just explained to me that when you feel sad you get creases on your heart. When you feel sad your heart crumples up and when you feel happy it uncrumples, but there are still creases left. He said the creases on your heart are like the history of being sad.

Laszlo bought Lily a Littlest Pet Shop book today at his school's book fair.

I just heard this from the kitchen table:

Lily, this is a quiet book. It's volume three.

Laszlo is particularly upset with Windows Vista. We don't have it on any of our machines, but he keeps hearing us say we don't want it and he hears Eileen say how she hates it, so he knows it's awful.

Today Laszlo got home from school and told me all about slavery. They read a book called, "Henry's Freedom Box" and he was very animated about how bad slavery was.

So tonight, we're all hanging out in the den. Laszlo had just finished talking about slavery to our houseguest Eileen. Then he said it.

"Which is worse, slavery or Windows Vista?"

Cue me and Eileen almost peeing our pants laughing.

Laszlo: We got a new program called Type to Learn at school, it helps me learn to type using the home keys.
Me: That's cool! I learned to type on a typewriter.
Laszlo: So you're really old. Congratulations. Typewriters are really old.

I've been sick for a week. This is the longest I've been sick in many years. I can't remember the last time. I went three whole days with NO voice. It's still very hoarse, but it's getting back. I was able to take a few naps, which is rare and awesome.

Today I ventured out a bit with my mom and the girls. Ella's a nightmare to take anywhere. She's the kid who runs off in stores and doesn't answer to her name. I always thought those leashes people put on their kids were horrifying, but now I totally see their purpose. She's a leash kid. She wriggles out of her stroller and screams when she's not moving. She's ok if I hold her, but my back just started feeling better (since she waited until 19 months to start walking) and I'm not really interested in carrying her and her 27 pounds around. We went to the mall because Laszlo needed a new winter coat and Lily needed sweaters. It was eerily uncrowded.

When Laszlo got home, I told him I got him a new coat because his old one was getting small. He paused, then said, "Mom!?! I'm getting bigger, my coat's not getting SMALLER!" Like duh.

So I've been chilling since we got home and now I have a horrible headache. It's that sinus-y headache. The kind that aches on an entire side of my head, and feels like my teeth are all loose on that side. I took two Aleve, but I think I'll end up at the doctor after all. Just when I thought I had this beat without antibiotics. Well, we'll see how I am tomorrow. I'm so not looking forward to letting a sinus infection fester for any length of time...when I get the bad ones, there is nothing that relieves the pain other than at least 24 hours on antibiotics.

Ick. I wanted to avoid going. Oh well.

Ella's up from her nap. Joy. Lucky she's the cutest thing ever.

Laszlo:

Why do they use drumsticks to catch turkeys?