Dinner Time Chatting

A general synopsis of dinner conversations this evening:

MADELEINE: Daddy, what's this green thing STICKING OUT of my plate?
ETHAN: That's basil, honey.  You don't have to worry about basil.  Basil tastes good.
MADELEINE: But...I don't want to eat basil, because...basil is YUCKY.
ME: No, honey, basil is yummy.
MADELEINE: But...Mommy...I'm sure it's going to be a LEAF.
ME: Just like this morning, when you were standing at the top of the stairs saying, "Mom, I'm sure I'm going to fall!"
JULIA: Mom?  How was it the first morning?
ME: What first morning?
JULIA: The first morning.
ME: What do you mean?
JULIA: Well, how was there a FIRST MORNING?
ME: A first morning?
ETHAN: You mean the moment the universe was first formed?
JULIA: Yeah.
ETHAN: (launching into a kid-friendly explanation of how stars are formed.)
JULIA: But, like...do the stars and the planets have a BIRTHDAY?
ETHAN: I don't think so.
JULIA: But why not?
ME: Well, I'm sure they have a "birthday," but nobody celebrates them.
JULIA: (singing) Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Eaaaaarth, happy birthday to you!
MADELEINE: (singing) Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Eaaaaarth, happy birthday to you!  (Speaking) Earth BLOWED OUT the CANDLES!
JULIA: Dad?  Do BEARS have birthdays?
MADELEINE: Super Why is up my DRESS!
ETHAN: Sure, bears have birthdays, but they don't celebrate them.
MADELEINE: POOPER WHY!
ETHAN: Madeleine, I'm going to give you one last chance to eat your peppers and if you don't eat them, you're done with dinner, and you don't get dessert.
MADELEINE: POOPER WHY!  But I said POOPER WHY!
ETHAN: I don't care that you said Pooper Why.  I just want you to eat your peppers.
JULIA: (referring to the background music, which was Talking Heads) Mommy, it's kind of like the Ethiopian restaurant...with this music. 
ME: Uh...yeah, you're right.  (No, you're not.)
JULIA: (finishing her dessert and going into the living room to dance maniacally to the music)
MADELEINE: Mommy?  Why did the flounder EAT the MOM?
ME: Why did the flounder eat the mom?
MADELEINE: No, the shark didn't ate FLOUNDER.  The shark ate the MOM.  And FLOUNDER.  Why did the mom is in the shark's mouth?
ME: What mom?
MADELEINE: She's in FLOUNDER!
ME: I just...don't even know.

I truly wonder what goes on inside those heads of theirs.