Kindergarten = Freedom

Day 4 of Kindergarten has come and gone. Today on the way home I asked Adam and Walt what they had for lunch. Adam, as he did the last three days, led out with chocolate milk, then said that he also had a hot dog. Walt shared that he had white milk, and a peanut butter sandwich. Walt then told Adam that he should probably just drink chocolate milk once a week, that it would better if he primarily drank white milk since that was better for his body. Adam responded by saying that he drinks white milk all the time at home and can do whatever he wants in kindergarten. It was silent for a moment, and then Walt said, "Well maybe you can have it two times a week."

Again, silence for a moment, and then Adam said, "Did you know that we have to do this (go to kindergarten) until summer starts?

After that they made farting noises with their hands, which made the argument go away, and which, by the way, Micah absolutely loved.

Keeping up with the Joneses

Playdate edition. They were knee-deep in Legos and Star Wars toys...

Adam: Stop buying stuff! You keep buying stuff and it makes me want to keep buying stuff!

Walt: I can buy stuff when I want to!

Adam: But I can’t buy stuff until I get money. It takes a long time!

Walt: You know how I buy stuff? I save up my money.

Adam: I want to buy a Vulture Droid.

Walt: I don’t think you can get one. I bought mine in Nashville.

A: Do you want to buy my Bakugan?

W: No.

A: Well, I don’t want you to buy any more.

They moved on pretty quickly to racing the actual Tank Droid and the Lego Tank Droid. But I'm sure we haven't heard the end of this conversation! Did I just hear Robert begging for the new i-phone?

Size Matters

Swim Lesson Edition:

Walt: Look! We're in order: small, medium and big (pointing to himself)!

Adam: Well, I'm almost the biggest.

Walt: Micah is small, you are medium, I'm large, and your mom is extra-large!

Me: (burst out laughing)

Adam: Mom, why are you laughing?

Me: Well, it's just not really polite to call someone "extra-large!"

Walt: But you're like a big kid!

Adam: She's not a kid. She's a grown-up. Mom, are you a kid or a grown-up?

Me: I'm a grown-up.

Walt: But she's a kid-grown-up. Like my mom's a kid.

Adam: Are you a kid-grown-up.

Me: Umm...Sure.

Walt: She's a kid, 'cause she has parents. But she's a grown-up too. (smart kid, that one!)

Me: Yes, I guess you're correct.

Adam: Her parents live in Kentucky.

Micah: TUCKY!!

Adam: They are Pa and La La.

Micah: PAAA!! LALA!!!

Walt: We're about to turn on Poplar.

Micah: POPLAAAA!

Then I dropped off one very excited swimmer (Walt) and one very scared and nervous swimmer (Adam). Hope the week gets easier!

WE'RE KINDERGARTENERS!!

Well, it's the last day of Pre-K CLUE...Micah and I waited patiently by the school door while Micah entertained all of the other expectant parents as he practiced walking up and down the steps. Then the sound of scurrying, excited children grew louder and louder as the class lined up on the other side of the door. Mrs. Merritt opened the door, thanked the parents for giving her the best class she has ever taught, then dismissed "Meredith...Adam...Walt....!"

"WE'RE KINDERGARTENERS!!!!!!" Adam yelled at the top of his lungs as he bounded down the stairs. The boys said goodbye to various friends, Doran, Aaron, and CJ.

As we loaded up the car, I noticed the medallions they each had around their necks. "Medals of Courage" from the Wizard of Oz, because they will be "brave when we go to Kindergarten."

Walt: You know Adam, we probably won't ever see these kids again.

Adam: Yeah, I know.

Walt: We'll see CJ, 'cause he's going to Peabody with us. And Meredith. But we won't see the others. (Glad to see they are adjusting okay to this milestone! Geez! Someone hand me a kleenex!)

Adam: Why is it called Kindergarten? That sounds like something that should be outside.

Walt: Mandy, have any astronauts been to Pluto? I bet it would take astronauts three years to get to Pluto...

And so went the rest of the drive home. But I did manage to snap a pic of the little guys on their last day of Pre-K/first (unofficial) day as Kindergarteners:

Soon, they will be trading in their Downtown Elementary Red polos for Peabody Elementary Blue polos. We will no longer be carpooling them to Pre-K, but walking them to our neighborhood school just a few blocks away. But I'm sure we'll continue to write about the adventures of these two. How else will Mrs. Merritt keep up with the little rascals (at least until they are old enough for facebook accounts!)

Fame

Walt has been dying to show Adam and all of his CLUE colleagues that one of their own had her photo in the latest Memphis Zoo magazine.  He had a copy rolled up in his snack bag this morning, and Adam's feet were still on the street outside the car door when the first and best exchange of the morning occurred:

Walt:  LOOK!!!  Look, Adam.  Look whose picture is in this magazine!  She made the news!  She's famous!

Adam, after casually glancing over at the page while I was buckling his belt: I saw a guy with a green face at Chick-fil-a once.

Luckily for Walt, most of the rest of the class was very excited about their newly-minted superstar.  Adam never said another word about it.

Good Choices and Snack Packs

Today was Walt and Adam's best friend, Meredith's first day of Clue. I asked them if they thought Mer had a good first day.

Adam: I think she liked it. But she just got her first sticker, so she can't pick anything from the Good Choice box. I only have one sticker left to get before I can pick from the Good Choice box. Not tomorrow, but the NEXT DAY!!

Then Walt told all about his excitement for Friday when the "Bug Guy" would be visiting his school. Adam was fairly disgusted until Walt assured him the bugs were in cages.

As we pulled up to the intersection at Union and Danny Thomas, the boys reminded me that we needed to pass out a Snack Pack to the hungry man standing beside the car. I told them we didn't have anymore. I was interrupted with two very loud, unison "YES WE DO!!! THERE'S ONE BACK HERE!!"

Sure enough, one Snack Pack was hidden under my seat near Adam's feet. I could barely reach it, but just in time, we were able to give the food to the man before the light turned green. He was very appreciative and said thanks to the boys. Then they made plans for going to the store to buy the needed supplies to make more Snack Packs.

Further down Union, Adam said, "Hey! That's where my Dreamatologist is. He fixed my cheeks. They're white now, but they were red." Yes, Adam should have a dreamatologist. He's had some really weird dreams lately!

A Life Lesson

Adam: It’s NOT Fair!

Me: What’s not fair?

Adam: Noah and Doran got to pick something from the “Good Choice Bag” and I didn’t. It’s NOT FAIR!

Walt: Well, Adam. When your card fills up with stickers you can pick something from the “Good Choice Bag.”

Adam: I have to get two more stickers. But it’s NOT FAIR!

Walt: Adam, sometimes some people… (he hesitates)

Adam: Walt, I want to hear what comes out of your mouth…

Walt: Well… sometimes… some people get things and other people don’t.

Adam: It’s NOT FAIR!

Walt: Hey Adam, do you want to save someone today?

Adam: Yeah! Let’s save Asoka! (from Lego Star Wars on Wii)

…and all becomes FAIR with the world as they plot how to save Asoka from certain doom.

Amazon and China

I had the privilege of doing the morning carpool duties today and found that the boys are much chattier in the mornings. Adam was quite thrilled to show off his new Mace Windu Lightsaber that the wonderful UPS man delivered yesterday. Adam had been saving his coins for months for something special, and he shopped for a while with his very proud dad, finally choosing the purple lightsaber.

So, with his new toy in hand, in the carseat, he told Walt about it, again. (Walt had already seen it yesterday during a playdate.)

W: Where did your new lightsaber come from?

A: It came from Amazon.

W: Oh.

A: You can get one from Amazon too.

W: Where did Amazon get it from?

A: I don't know. Maybe Target?

W: I think Amazon got it from China. That's where all toys come from.

A: That's a lot of toys in China!

W: (taking the lightsaber from Adam.) Look...it says "Made in China. 2008." 2008. That's a long time ago.

A: That's a big number! (oblivious to the fact that it's a year.)

A: Look! It's the FedEx Forum!

Spring No More

As soon as the seat belts were buckled, the boys asked to play Lego Star Wars on the Wii when we got home. I expected this and decided to reply with my rule about "no Wii on sunny days. You guys can play outside today. It's so nice!"

Adam pouted loudly, "I wish Spring wasn't a season. I don't like sunny days. I like days where we have to stay inside and I can play Wii."

How did I not see this coming? Am I unintentionally giving my son a reason to hate sunny days? Their complaining went on for a little while, but I stuck to my guns. And suggested that they do another Star Wars play, outside. See previous post...same episode, same scene. But at least they are outside.

His Daddy's a Lawyer

It must be nice having all of your memories compacted into about two years' time.  You can remember just about everything that's ever happened to you or been said to you (unless, of course, it was said to you two minutes before and involved eating, getting dressed, getting out of bed, leaving your brother alone, washing your hands, getting into bed or anything not fun).  Or at least that's how it works with Walt.  Poor Adam.  Again he suffers abuse at the hands of Walt's selective (and generously embellished) memory . . .

W: Do you remember which episode you watched first?
A: Yeah.  Episode IV.
W: Which episode did you watch second?
A: I don't know.
W: Five?
A: No.
W: Six?
A: No.
W: One?
A: No.
W: Two?
A: No.
W: Three?
A: No.
W: Well, which one did you watch next?
A: I don't remember.  Which one did you watch first?
W: Episode IV.  And then I watched Episode VI and then Episode V, and then I watched Episode II.  And then I think I saw Episode I and then Episode III.  Yeah.  That's right.

This can't possibly be true, can it?  Regardless, Adam didn't challenge him on it, and that's going to come back to haunt him, because one day Walt's going to be all . . . "Yeah . . . she said her number was 8-6-7-5-3-0-9.  You should call her."  Meanwhile, her number is firmly implanted in Walt's brain and is nothing close to what he told Adam, and Walt has a date set up for Friday night.

You gotta watch this guy, Adam; trust me, I'm a lawyer.  Would I lie to you?

Who are these Star Wars kids?

Adam and Walt performed their first Star Wars play for me the other day. Apparently it was scenes from Episode 3 in the Lava World. Adam was Anakin and Walt was Obi Wan Kenobi.

Micah was cast as Yoda.

There were frequent uses of "The Force."

And much intensity.

It wasn't quite "The Three Little Pigs" play that they learned that morning in CLUE, but they had fun and grasped the concept of putting on a play! I look forward to many more.

We Should Charge for This Privilege

Today marked my first time taking Adam and Walt to school, and although I'm taking a break from blogging, twitter and facebook for the season of Lent, I thought I would exercise my liberty in Christ by sharing my experience. Three things come to mind:

1. I believe there was a total of 22 seconds of silence during our 15 minute drive downtown
2. Walt begins every sentence with "And Adam..."
3. Walt shared with Adam that they had played with the light saber yesterday at his house, but then they left it outside and he forgot to bring it in. He then said, "And Adam, that's why I knew that was a bad idea." Then, and I kid you not, there was a silent gap of 8.5 seconds, with me waiting in anxious expectation for a response. Finally, Adam answered, "I don't know what you're talking about."
   
   

Silence Is Not An Option

(prolonged silence)

Walt:  Adam, why aren't we talking about things?

Adam: Meh.

Walt: ADAM.  We always talk about things when we're riding to school.

Adam: What?

Walt:  Adam, we are supposed to talk about things.  What do you want to talk about?

Adam:  We could talk about dinosaurs.

Walt:  No.  I'm not an expert in that anymore.

Adam:  What about Star Wars?

Walt:  I know.  We could talk about Star Wars AND Transformers.

Adam:  Okay.

Walt:  Is Captain Rex a good guy or a bad guy?

Adam:  At first he's a good guy, then he's a bad guy.

And so on and so forth.  Finally, back on track.  And all is right with the world again.

"TRANSFORMER!!!"

George Lucas, I Hope You're Happy

I was five-years old when The Empire Strikes Back was released in theaters almost thirty years ago.  But I still don't have as firm a grasp on the stories and characters of the Star Wars franchise as my two passengers exhibited this morning.  With the help of the Star Wars insert on the outside of Adam's backpack, they methodically marched through each plot line, each major character (and some minor ones I've never heard of) and their favorite types of "light savers" (per Walt) from each episode.  Wow.

Walt: How can Anakin be good then bad and then good again?  How can he keep changing his mind?

Adam: TRANSFORMER!!!

This response, of course, has nothing to do with Walt's question or the topic at hand, but it illustrates the trouble I've had coming up with content for the past few trips to school.  Thanks to Walt's Putty, Walt is able to identify and distinguish a typical pad-mount electrical transformer from the kind that turn into machines and robots and dominates the universe.  Seeing none of the latter during the drive to school, these two floppy-haired, galactic travelers have taken to screaming "TRANSFORMER!!!" directly into my ears every time they see one of the ubiquitous, green boxes.  As you can imagine, this greatly hampers the flow of their conversations and my ability to remember them.  Don't forget, I'm trying to navigate Memphis traffic, listen and remember simultaneously.

I'm waiting for a few more trips before I begin to develop the screenplay, Starformer Wars, Episode 6.5: Revenge of the Clones, or something like that.  Are you listening, George?

Prayer

This is my first post, and it only involves one of the kiddos. Hope I'm not breaking the rules.

This morning, while taking Adam to school, I said a prayer for our week. After the prayer:

Me: Did you know that you can talk to God whenever you want?

Adam: Yes

Me: How do you know that?
Adam: I learned it at church (Mandy, you're redeemed; nothing about storm troopers)

Me: How does God hear everybody at the same time?

Adam: I think he has a lot of ears

Evasive Maneuvers

W: Oh no! What's that?

A: It's a cwash! We can't get through! We have to stop! There are police cars in the road!

W: It's okay! My daddy is a good driver! He'll just go left then right then left again and get us around it! (As I do so.)

A: Oh!

Yes, the entire conversation, as with all conversations this morning, was screamed back and forth from the gaping distance of two feet.

Tuesday Morning Quarterbacks

Walt and Adam immediately broke down Super Bowl XLIV this morning.

Adam: "Yeah. I wanted the Colts to win, but my dad said they didn't win."

Walt: "I wanted them to win, too. They have Peyton Manning. He's a really good player. I really thought he would help them win."

That's pretty much a three-line summary of every sports talk radio show in the country yesterday morning. And I got it in 12 seconds directly from my backseat.

But the real jewel of the drive was Adam's take on what has become the most iconic image of the game, a shot of winning quarterback, Drew Brees, holding his infant son, Baylen, after the game. Being a daddy, I, of course, saw it live because I can stay up late. And CBS was eating it up. I'm sure many of you saw it, but if not, Brees had tears in his eyes; his cuter-than-cute little boy had on protective ear muffs to shield his little ears from all of the post-game noise; Brees is clearly taking it all in, and you can just see him capturing the most awesome mental image of it all for his own sake and that of his son, who will never remember it. Here's a screen cap of the moment:

Here's Adam's take on this moment in response to Walt's position on the Colt's loss even with Peyton Manning:

"Yeah. (He always starts sentences with 'yeah.') And my daddy told me that after the game there was a little boy and he had on headphones and he looked around."

Yeah. One day they'll understand.

Permission

Pick up was just as entertaining...only Adam was sour because I let Walt take his carseat and made him sit in Micah's carseat (since Nana had Micah at home and I hadn't yet installed the booster). Then they began to whisper to each other about the fact that they didn't have time to eat snacks in the classroom and Ms. Merritt told them to ask their parents if they could eat them in the car. In a whisper, they argued for several minutes about who should ask me if they could eat their snack. Walt kept whispering, "but Adam, she's your mom. You should ask her." When I finally said "Hey guys, why don't we eat our snacks when we get home." Adam said "how did you know what we were talking about?"

On Star Wars and the NBA Western Conference

That, my friends, is comedy gold. I couldn't get my recorder going fast enough to get the ESPN-worthy breakdown of the Griz game, but I did get some pretty good commentary on the bonus features on Star Wars DVDs for Episodes, let me see if I get this right, 1, 2, 6 and 3. But that's all.

It took them until Peabody Ave to figure out that they had both watched the same game last night. One at home and one at the game. Adam, I'm guessing didn't make it to the end, so he was convinced the Lakers won. Walt who made it to the very end, corrected him with the addition of "And even the Lakers have the best player in the National Basketball Ahs . . . . . (pretty clear he didn't really know the word). Then Walt claimed a vast majority of the credit for the big win, and Adam told him that OJ Mayo was his player and that he couldn't be Walt's favorite, then they decided that he could be both of their favorite.

Mike and Mike would have been proud.

Of course, by the time we got to Cleveland, the conversation had devolved into a series of addition problems, massive amounts of hyperbole ("Hey, look! That building is 2 million miles away AND it's on fire!), and repeated use of the words Koo Koo Head.

That was awesome!