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?

No Confidence

I know I'm the rookie in this, but what gives? Today marked by third time to drop the boys off. Before we even left our house to pick up Walt, Adam told me he didn't want me to take them to school. He wanted mom to instead. I asked why. His response: "Because I don't want you to keep breaking the rules." Something about where to park the car.

Apparently neither one of them has much confidence in my ability to get them to school. Needless to say, I decided to be stubborn and park somewhere I knew would be different. They didn't like it. I told them to man up - "Five blocks isn't going to kill you." They cried. OK, most of that I just made up. Good to get a morning started like that. It wasn't even a block that we had to walk, and there were no tears. Maybe they even like me a little more. Or not.

One more thing about this morning...there was silence for over 2 minutes at one point. It was as if they had nothing else to talk about. It felt very weird. I almost started talking just to break the awkward silence. You'll all be happy to know that I resisted, and soon enough a reference to Star Wars came out, and all was ok with the world again.

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."