Awesomely Weird Kiddos

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you likely have already realized that my kids are totally weird.  And while I write about them in a rather tongue-in-cheek style, when I say they're totally weird, what I mean is that they're totally weird in an AWESOME way.  I never want to come across as a parent who spends every waking second boasting about how amazing and adorable her children are.  However, like every parent in the universe, I *do* so happen to think my children are absolutely amazing and adorable. 

This is all a BIG disclaimer for the following boast I am about to give.  Please forgive me for a moment, but I just must say:

Julia is a super trooper.  Not only does she walk all the way to school and all the way home every day (each direction being roughly a mile), but she is tough enough to handle the walk in any kind of weather.  This morning we walked there in the rain, and I felt the need to point out to her just how awesome she is.

ME: Julia, I gotta tell you.  You're SUCH a trooper.  I bet you're the toughest kid in the whole school when it comes to walking.

Julia, of course, was more concerned with uncovering whether I was truly qualified to make such an assessment.

JULIA: But how do you KNOW?
ME: Well, I doubt any of the other kids walk quite as far as you do.  And whenever the weather is bad, most of the other kids don't walk to school.
JULIA: But Mom.  How do you even KNOW how far they walk?
ME: Well, because we see the same kids every day who are walking to school when we are.  And I know where most of them live, and it's not as far as where we live.
JULIA: Well Mom.  How do you even KNOW if we live the farthest?
ME: Well, I don't know for sure, but I have a feeling that you walk a lot farther than most of the other kids.  And you can even do it when the weather's not great.
JULIA: Well, how do you know the other kids don't walk in the bad weather?

Okay.  I'm just gonna give up on trying to convince her how super awesome she is.  And I don't really want to be teaching her to feel some sense of competition or one-up-manship about this, so I didn't bother to point out to her that each month's "Walker of the Month," featured at school, states the distance the Walker travels each day.  Most of the distances are around a tenth of a mile to a quarter mile.  Julia has never been "Walker of the Month," probably because we enter the school through the back door, so none of the administration is even aware that she's a walker.

ANYWAY.

On to weird stuff now.  Let's just talk about some of the things Madeleine has said over the past 24 hours.

#1
(In reference to the fact that she was VERY poorly behaved for our sitter yesterday.)
ME: Madeleine?  So tell me.  How are you going to behave for the baby-sitter today?
MADELEINE: Well Mama.  That's a difficult QUESTION.


#2
(In reference to kids at her school)
MADELEINE: Mama?  At school, the kids say "this letter is green," when really it's TURQUOISE.
ME: Oh.  Did you tell them it's turquoise?
MADELEINE: Yes, but they don't say anything...because...their mouths are CLOSED, and...their heads are still facing the direction they're GOING.


#3
 (Emerging from the play kitchen area with a pot full of stuff)
MADELEINE: Here you go!  I made this for you!  It's PUMPKIN stew just for YOU!

I joked that it should really be shepherd's pie.  Because it had real shepherds in it.  And angels.  And Jesus, Mary and Joseph:

After she fed me my pumpkin stew, Madeleine ran back off to the play kitchen, only to emerge once again after creating a loud clattering sound.

MADELEINE: (concerned) Mama?  By accident, I put my cookie that is JESUS into cat's BOWL.

Well, Jesus' symbol is a fish, after all, so I bet cat is pretty happy to find Jesus in his bowl.