Kids Say the Funniest Things

The following are all snippets of conversations that have taken place around the house lately.

1) Miriam to Cowen in her most annoyed-with-my-pretend-husband voice: "Did you bring home enough meat?" To which Cowen responded in his most annoyed-with-being-hen-pecked voice: "Yeah, I brought home a big pot of monster!"

2) Cowen was helping me paint my bedroom orange and after running around returning items and pounding lids with a hammer, he stopped, looked around, and said: "Mom, I just don't know what else I can do for you."

3) Miriam came racing down the stairs, where Cowen, Emeline and I were hanging out, yelling, "We're in danger!" Cowen immediately got up and started yelling: "We must run our family away!" After Miriam and Cowen had left, Emeline looked at me and said, "Well."

4) Lindsay Ann and I had several little helpers while we painted. I let Miriam use the roller for half a minute while Emeline and Cowen watched. Cowen exclaimed, "Great job, Miriam!" Lindsay Ann said, "Cowen, you're such a positive kid." Cowen said, "Why?" Lindsay Ann said, "That's just the way you are." There was a brief pause and then Cowen said, "Maybe it's because I'm a cowboy."

5) Today we went on a walk and Cowen and Miriam were up ahead of me. Cowen said something to Miriam that I couldn't hear and then Miriam replied in a much louder voice, "Hello, it's the army! Make it sound more urgent, please!"

6) The kids and I were eating lunch and I was making the kids laugh by doing strange arithmetic that involved adding Miriam and Cowen to equal Cowiam and Emeline plus Miriam to equal Miraline. You get the idea. Then Miriam said, "What's Dad plus Mom" and I said, "Smooches!" So then, after the giggling, we started adding other things. Miriam asked, "What's Dad plus coming home and giving us kisses and hugs?" And I answered, "Fun?" And she said, "No, that's love." I admit to getting a little teary-eyed. What's a freckle nose plus red hair plus a whole lot of creativity plus a generous portion of pure sweetness--that would be my girl.