Week 5-books

We have several bookshelves in every room of this little condo; 

each stuffed with more than it's fair share of reading material. 

I took a good look at our makeshift nightstands this week as I was cleaning our room (I should take a picture). I found that the weak plastic shelf that makes up the top is concave due to the weight of stacks of books. Some may call it clutter, but I call it refreshing & enlightening. We like having the one book you can't put down (so it's constantly changing), the...2 or 3 books you can read here and there for inspiration or a good laugh, scriptures, a journal or two, one from the library, the one borrowed from a friend, a kid's book or two...seriously, made me smile all that we had going on on our about-to-collapse bookstands nightstands. You can probably tell a lot about a person by what's piled next to their head where they sleep. (You should take inventory, what did you learn about yourself?)

We're so glad that Emelia caught the bug.

It is not uncommon to find Miss Melia sitting in the midst of a pile of books, thumbing through each page and talking/signing to herself.  She's been this way since she was about 7-months; who needs toys?! We absolutely love sharing this part of life with her.

13-months

Some fun things to note this month about our little Em:

*She is still completely obsessed with dogs and signs it well

*She trys to bark like a dog...hilarious

*She most clearly says: "Uh-oh!" "Hi!" "Wow." "Ma-ma-ma."

*She says an airy, "Aahh!" after EVERY time she..or anyone else, takes a drink, how refreshing!

*She has THE BEST belly laugh; every cell in her body is helping to produce that beautiful sound, I'm sure of it.

*She can point to 6 body parts when named, on herself and others-sometimes

(nose, hair, belly-button, ears, knees, toes)

*New signs she has added to her vocab: banana, car, up, bus, cat

*She has often signed 2 or 3 phrases! (cold snow, more banana please, etc)

*She is only nursing mommy's milk two times a day

*She loves mommy so much she has to be hugging her legs constantly :)....even when mommy's going to the bathroom :(

*She loves daddy so much she plays all sorts of fun games with him

*Em is such a good helper! When she signs "all done" with an activity we sign "clean up, please" she signs "clean up" and happily helps us put her toys away. Her chores include putting her diaper in the bin (she started this on her own, signing "help" one day and never looking back) and her clothes in the hamper (I have to note that she cannot have even a string hanging over the side of the hamper, it's very serious work)

*Still too nervous/cautious to walk alone but is a pro with her birthday stroller!

*She loves balls and is getting really good at pass; good thing warm weather is coming

*We actually think she has an obsession with circles of all kinds

*We love when she does "kooks" to show affection

*She's getting really good at blowing kisses

*She hates getting messy diapers changed and will only eat meat when it's disguised

Little WofW

"If you eat a penny and poop it out, will it still be a penny when it comes out?"

--Amber-9

Context: Over dinner at my house, Kionna and Amber were asking me what I thought it would be like if I had triplets. Before I could even really give an answer, they were spouting off what they thought the pros and cons were. (Really wish I could have just recorded this whole conversation.) One question Kionna-13 asked was, "Would you rather have four-girls the same age, or three-boys?"

Amber's-9 reply, completely confident in herself, "Well, the girls, duh! Guys are 20% more likely to do stupid stuff than girls." Oh really? Where did you hear that statistic.

"Myself."

Week 4-Firsts

"First-time" adventures are so much fun!
Although I was very disappointed that Merlin Olsen Park was out of ice-skates to rent, this turned into an enjoyable alternative; and Em's first thrill.

Em was elated. She was clearly cold, but enjoying herself. She would sign "more" at the bottom of the hill; her hands barely able to touch due to her puffy, pink, marshmallow coat. The kids showed off on their new snowboards. It became clear I am a completely inexperienced novice when it comes to snowboarding. It was cute how willingly my 9-year old sister gave me pointers and offered to be by my side the whole way; endearing and possibly embarrassing ;). Bring on the sledding!

The Proposal

The Thesis Proposal that is. Glad you got your proposal turned in on time. Let's keep the ball rollin'!

not so Little W of W

Context: I was telling some people in the family that both sets of Emi's cheeks have been getting chapped due to this freezing, dry weather.

Someone: "Why are they both called 'cheeks' anyway...?"

In all seriousness, "Because they both get chapped."--Anonymous
Sound logic.

"Bet you didn't know that microwaves have 'POWERS'" --Anonymous

Week 3-Final Count Down

It's the 'Final Count Down'

Remember making countdown-chains as a kid? A colorful, fun way to lead up to any event. Although, really there must be some hidden lessons with countdown-chains for children. Such as learning time; how long a day is, so that the adult can stop listening to, "Is it my birthday yet?" (Light bulb! Maybe we should make chains by the hour on long road trips so we can veto the nagging, "Are we there yet?!") Practicing the fine-motor involved with the making of the chain itself. Or, maybe just an overall lesson of patience.

Since I am still learning some of those things (well, mostly just the art of consistent patience) I still like to make the occasional infamous count-down chain.

Em and I made this chain Couper's first day of class. Since once of us has been in school at any point in our nine year of knowing each other, it seems appropriate. We decided to do one link per week to save the Rain Forests. Deep breath...it is Couper's LAST semester of college! He will be receiving his Masters degree in May! We are beside ourselves with an array of emotions. We're in for a grueling semester; ending with a bang that's for sure! Coup has some pretty time-sucking classes, and is working on the heart of his thesis. He is also traveling nearly every week with the Women's basketball team. His constant absence is already weighing on wife and baby but we are SO very proud of him! We are grateful for his work ethic, intelligence, patience, light-heartedness, etc. and love him very much! Way to go Couper-Daddy! We're excited to see you break the links off of this chain!

~     ~     ~

I decided I'm bringing back "Little Words Of Wisdom" to the best of my ability and memory.

Since I'm doing weekly posts anyway, hopefully it will be easier to document. I'm guessing most of the Wisdom's will come from the mouths of family, but I may include some anonymous students still as well if their Words are just too funny to keep to myself.

"Caterpillars"

Little W of W

*Do you know what a catapult is? That's what we're going to make today!

"Yeah! It's like a caterpillar!" --JoJo, 5

I may be slightly mis-quoting, but this is the muffled version I caught at the other end of the phone.
What are you doing out of bed? "I was saying my prayers..." Honey, we already said prayers, go to bed. "No, I was saying my prayers again and Jesus just helped me get to my feet!" --Ryder, 4

*What do you want to name your bunny puppet?

"Uh...RIBBIT! Ya, Ribbit." --Ryland, 2 1/2 in his deep, sure voice.

*"Be careful with Lilly because she is real." -Kalia, 5 

"She is not real!!" Choruses of the other children. It's okay, I used to pretend that my dolls and stuffed animals were real when I was younger too, it makes it more fun.

Hands on hips, foot stomp, enlarged eyes, completely offended and appalled. "Um, what?! I am NOT pretending. My Lilly is really REAL, really." 

I'm not one to compete with a child's imagination. 'She's real guys, be careful with her.'

Little Words of Wisdom VI

First grade boy, "Have you been surfing before?" No. "Have you been to Costa Vida?" Yeah. "Well...It's born on the BEACH!!!" Is a synapse not occurring for me here, or does he just have extras? :)

(Feb. 2012)

When shown a picture of a totem pole a first grade boy cleverly answered with, "A JAPANESE ANIMAL STACKER!"

(Feb. 2012)

"MAKE WAY!! The girl with the goods is comin' " LOL. LOL. I don't have much other context written with this. It sounds dirty...but I'm pretty sure it was my 5-year old niece entering the room with a dessert; she has quite the sweet tooth.

(Feb. 2012)

When given a choice between something healthy and something...well, not, of course the child is going to pick the unhealthy choice. We had the vegetarian pizza from Papa Murphey's (completely smothered in veggies. delicious. if you haven't tried it, you should.) and a pepperoni. My 5-year old niece, Sky, was told she had to try a sliver (literally) of the veggie pizza before she could have a pepperoni piece. After much trial and tribulation on her part, she was given a prize pepperoni slice and declared: "Finally, THE DELICIOUSNESS HAS LANDED!"

(Feb. 2012)

3rd grade boy: Very animatedly, "When I was at my grandpa's house last year, I saw a pink bird in the road! Yeah, a PINK one!! eyes glaze over, long pause, "...or was that just my imagination?" eyes still glazed over.... I will never know.

(Mar. 2012)

A dear, dear, second grade boy of mine, whom I have definitely quoted on here before, is quite the smarty pants, and as it turns out, quite the artist as well. When asked to produce a sentence with the word "radish" in it, because he really needed to get that /r/down, he "machine gun laughed" (as my sisters and I like to call it) while keeping a straight face (that's talent) and said, "Radishes make you poop!" Followed by another "machine gun laugh." I finally convinced him to think of a new sentence, no matter how true his first sentence was. However, that wasn't the end of my digestive lesson. By the end of class he had drawn a fairly "realistic" depiction of a T-Rex. Inside the T-Rex was an extremely detailed glimpse inside the body, at all of the digestive organs. "Wow!" I said, "You're a good artist!" He gave me a very serious look and said, "Look. Look at the whole process. This is a grape (pointing to a small dot entering the T-Rex's mouth, then very expertly explaining how it eventually ends up in the intestines..) then, he POOPS!" Quite proud of himself he then shrugged his shoulders and said, "I learned it from Bill Nye. Welp, See ya next Wednesday." And took off out the door; what would I do without him?

(Mar. 2012)

Me: "I think Coup and I are going to go see Hunger Games."

Kionna (11): "OH! OH! I want to see Hunger Games!"

Me: "Well...I dunno, it's kind of violent..."

Kionna: "Yeah, well, so are Amber (8) and Levi (9)!"

Levi: "I'm not violent! I don't stab people!"

(sometimes I wish I could have these recorded. They're tones of voice might be what make it funny..)

(Mar. 2012)

Pointing to a picture of a boy in a wheel chair I say, "What is he sitting in?"

Kindergarten boy: "A..a...a HOT CHAIR."

"A 'hot chair'? Why is it called that?"

"Well, because, a person sits in it, and they're hot, and their legs are broken. ..And they're REALLY hot! So they need a hot chair."

"Interesting, I've never heard it called that before. I think they're usually called WHEEL chairs."

"Ohhh, yeah, a WHEEL chair."

Despite that clarification I still caught him calling it a "hot chair" a couple of times throughout class. I love asking "why" questions. It intrigues me to see which direction their mind is going to go...I usually never know.

(Mar. 2012)

Second grade boy: "I was born incorrectly." said matter-of-factly with a twinge of sadness.

"Really? What do you mean?"

"Well, I like had a GOOGLY eye, and it was falling out, so they had to fix it." All said with actions and visuals.

"Oh, I see. So you were born incorrectly." Said sympathetically...trying to hide my sarcasm.

"YES!" I think he thought I understood....maybe I'll have to ask his mom about his birth story.

(Mar. 2012)

Until next time! Have any of the little ones in your life said something funny lately?

Little Words of Wisdom Part V

During a sunbeam lesson on our senses, and being grateful for what our bodies can do. We talked about those who don't have the use of all of their senses.

Sunbeam girl: "Well, if I couldn't see I would just feel things with my hands. But if I were feeling things I wouldn't be able to tell who my mom and dad are because they are practically the same shape." LOL LOL LOL

Sunbeam boy1: "My favorite things to see are my table....and my mom." *random!*

Sunbeam boy2: "Even if you can't see, you can be grateful cuz you can taste." *how sweet!*...no pun intended.

(Spring 2011)

During a sunbeam lesson about animals we discussed Noah and the ark.

Coup: "Elephants are so big."

sunbeam boy1: "Yeah, like this big!" (gesturing with wide eyes)

sunbeam girl: Says casually while intently coloring, "A baby elephant would be as big as my bed!"

Coup: "That's true. Do you think Noah built the ark big enough for a BIG animal like an elephant?"

sunbeam boy2: said matter of factly with a 'duh' element, "Well THAT'S for sure."

(Summer, 2011)

"Dad, look at Levi's shoulders! They're so broad, he's going to be a good looker."--Mom.

Levi looks from dad, to me, to mom then proudly licks his shoulder. Before we can respond he says, "And look, I can lick my chest." LOL! We were tear laughing. Little did we know he's quite a "good licker" as well. LOL, he really does have quite a long tongue ;). (Fall, 2011)

Kionna and I were sitting at the kitchen table at my parents. My mom and Jenni were talking over the island a few feet away. One of the latter two mentioned something about clogging and how it would be fun... Kionna crinkles her nose and declares, "Clogging?!" "Yeah," I say, "haven't you ever clogged before?" Her reply, "Well, I guess, the only thing I've ever clogged before was the toilet in Stansbury, when I was bored and I put a whole bunch of toilet paper in it." LOL....seriously? The truth comes out about that clogged toilet mom and dad. We'll have to introduce Kionna to the dance form of clogging so that outsiders aren't so well informed about the family's toilet issues.

(Fall, 2011)

While giving the sweetest Kindergartener a vocabulary test, we discovered some new labels of common household goods. By FAR my favorite: When shown a picture of a Calendar, he sat up straight and tall in his chair and said, "Oh! Ooooh! I know this one!...uhhhhh A NUMBER COUNTING SHELF!" Child, you are absolutely ADORABLE and I'm so excited I get to work with you.

(Fall, 2011)

Gaining new children on one's caseload can be exciting, draining, stressful, and rewarding. I am so grateful for the new students we've added to our caseload this year. Most of them have been younger and have taught me some pretty good life lessons, like how laughter really IS the best medicine. After picking up a new first grade student, we entered my classroom and he looked around confused, "Whew is ebwe-won?" (where is everyone) "It just gets to be ME and YOU! Won't that be fun?" His eyes popped out of his head and jaw dropped, very 'cooly' he responded, "Jus' me and you?! Dat is totawy off da hook!" Come to find out this adorable little first grader is full of creativity and one-liners. Our whole session could be wasted away of me trying to jot down the funny things he says if I tried...so unfortunately I won't :) so I can try and teach him something. I'll just try to remember a few here and there. How does a 6 year old learn to be witty?

(Jan. 2012)

While babysitting my niece Sky and her new baby sis Rain, Sky taught me of her trust and knowledge. Baby Rain started to fuss so I said I should probably feed her. I laid her next to a pillow on the couch and asked Sky to come talk to her. And in her best baby voice said, "Well, HEY baby sis. It's okAY! Auntie Kleena is the grownup here, and she'll take care of us!(kiss kiss kiss)" Then she looked over her shoulder catching me watching this adorable moment and matter-of-factly said, "Uh, Kleena, da bra-milk is in da diaper bag." lol, what an observant little girl, and she's already a great big sis!

(Jan. 2012)

Yet another witty student. Completely appalled that his second grade teacher had her baby the night before but didn't use any of his suggested names. "Oh, I'm sorry, well, what names did you suggest?" "CREEPER, HAIRBRAIN, and ENDERMAN!" Fighting back serious laughter as I make eye contact with the SLP... "Well, maybe there was a different name that she liked just a little bit more...." "WHAT!? (obviously his mind was blown that these names weren't good enough) "What's wrong with 'Come heea little Cweepa'?" Ending his comment with a dramatic arm fold and head on the desk. I truly believe he was offended. Sorry little buddy, but we can think of a whole list of things wrong with those names :)!

(Feb. 2012)

Little Words of Wisdom Part IV

"I know what that is! It's a calf. My grandma has some...I have no idea where they come from though!" first grade girl apparently completely baffled about the existence of cows..or maybe just unaware of the birds and the bees when it comes to cows...let's be grateful for that since she's 6. (Mar. 2011)

Shown a picture of a human skeleton, What is this? "An alien!!" first grade girl (Mar. 2011)

Explained to what hurdling and track are from a picture, "Oh yeah, I know what that is! My sister does track." (she said this dead serious) She does? Isn't she in second grade? "Yeah, she did it this morning; she was running all around the house then jumped over the couch." (Mar. 2011)

After reading a story about fishing and discussing our likes and dislikes, this first grader proudly enlightened us with his abundance of knowledge. "I like fishing! I like to eat fish too. Cuz fish are made out of chicken!!" I've been told wrong my whole life! (Mar. 2011)

An example of how "toppers" begin at a young age: "I have all three 'Toy Story's' "--4 year old Sky matter-of-factly to Maddi. "Well I have four!" --5 year old Maddi. (wasn't aware there were four...) "Oh...Well I have 100!" --Sky. "Well I have '101 Dalmatians.' " --responds Maddi triumphantly. "I have 114 dalmatians!!!" --Sky. HAHA..who won this episode?! I think they both won in their own minds. Toppers come in all ages, shapes, and sizes, be on your guard. (Mar. 2011)

After taking a small sip of water, 5 year old Maddi comes to the following epiphany, "Water is the bor'nist, most disgustin' thing I ever tasted in my WHOLE life! I'll drink milk everyday." ...I personally love a tall ice cold glass of H2O, to each his own. (April 2011)

While playing a game of BINGO in therapy to promote sounds, our Kindergartner proclaimed, "I play BINGO at my dad's mom's house!" Oh, fun, at your grandma's? "No, my dad's mom's." Oh, so..not at your grandma's? "No, (while shaking his head seriously) at my dad's mom's, cuz he was a little boy once too." Oh...okay ( :) ), well, what do you call her? "Grandma." said very nonchalantly. (April 2011)

"I don't want to have babies when I grow up." said a disgruntled 5 year old Maddi. Oh, well, how come? "Because I don't want to have my belly cut off." Who would??! (April 2011)

Little Words of Wisdom Part III

Sorry this has been such a long time coming. I kept forgetting to write little wisdoms down or misplacing them, so this is the accumulation I found from texts and notes in my phone, and scraps of paper in my purse, bedroom, and lunch box....I need to find a better way :).

At school, the SLP was doing some testing while I observed. The seven year old male student was easily distracted and definitely does NOT have a language delay, in fact, his vocabulary was outstanding and he seemed to know a lot about everything :) Observe his wisdom for yourself: "Do you know what I'm getting for Christmas? A gift from Heavenly Father and Jesus. Did you know that there are more than two Gods? My friend said there's only one; but there's more than two! Heavenly Father has a family in Heaven like we do, and all of his kids became Gods. And they all live on different earths. So, there are lots of Gods. I'm going to be a God one day too." Pretty profound for a seven year old! He just kept going and going, we didn't think it appropriate to keep prodding him so we didn't, but we couldn't help ourselves to just sit and listen while he kept talking. (Dec. 2010)

A ten year-old male student was having difficulty with some words in spelling/reading, I only had permission to find it funny because he kept realizing his mistakes and HE laughed first. "Very Buddy = everybody, manger whegy = major wedgie (don't ask why that word was even said/written....I honestly don't remember) audients = audience. "

"Levi, if you could swallow anything really fast, what would you swallow?"-Jenni. And Levi, without any hesitation whatsoever responded with "A ROCK!" with a huge grin on his face. Then Maddi chimes in, "Ask me! Ask me!" "...uhhh, okay, what would you swallow?" So excited she can hardly contain it she yelled, "A rock!....uh uh....I mean POOP!"....nice recovery. (Dec. 2010)

"Dad, it looks like you have a big adams apple in your cheek." Says Levi matter-of-factly. "Hmm, but those are in your neck." "...Oh....but don't flowers have adams apples?" (Dec. 2010)

"Maddi, you've been practicing your "r's"?? Tell me a word!" "TRAFFIC!" (said with a perfect "r" mind you...never thought to use that word, it's not completely random at all, maybe I can use it in therapy :). (Jan. 2011)

A learning child's rendition of the introduction phrase when preparing for a thumb war, "ONE, TWO, THREE-EE-EE, keep your thumb straight!" If you too have been stumped by this poem, the correct version is "One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war." Close though..very close.. (Feb. 2011)

Topic of conversation: living under rocks (of course...) "I ate an ant once," states Kionna matter of factly. "Oh! Was it good? Was it good?" Says a way too overly excited Amber. "Well, I didn't really get a chance to taste it cuz I swallowed it really fast." Kionna answered thoughtfully. (Feb. 2011)

A student to another student during our session...very randomly of course. He had been talking a million words a minute about who knows what then suddenly, "Have you ever heard of the Bermuda Triangle? My brother thinks it's a worm hole." "A what?" "Uh, A WORM HOLE, ya know? TIME TRAVEL?" said very annoyed that this student had NO idea what he was talking about.... (Feb. 2011)

Kionna to me: "Are you going to cut your hair anytime soon? If you do, can I keep it? I'll save it for my hair." Please..tell me, how does one respond to that??? (Feb. 2011)

During a smiling contest: Kionna: "K, you can't smile or laugh.................Uhhh, your eyes are happy." haha! That's not a rule! (Feb. 2011)

During articulation therapy, as the students progress with their sounds we have them come up with sentences that have words containing the sound they're working on. Oh how I wish I had jotted down SOO many of those sentences! These kids are hilarious. This sentence stuck with me and makes me smile. This fourth grade student, working on his /th/ sound stated: "I prefer to sleep southeast." who doesn't right?....:) (Feb. 2011)

Last but not least, our clever little sunbeams are so full of wisdom! We were doing a lesson on being thankful for water and began talking about being in the desert. "Does anyone know what a desert is?" All of their cute little faces just stared at us blankly, then you could see the light bulb go on in our round eyed porcelain faced sunbeam, her hand shot in the air, "Oh, I know, like cookies." She then smiled proudly, glad she had figured it out ;). (Feb. 2011)

Remember, I'd love to hear Little Words of Wisdom that you hear throughout your day!!

Little Words of Wisdom Part II

Ready for another dose? :)

*While attending a USU basketball scrimmage, anonymous 7 year old female (to save face of anyone who might be affected by this.) "EW!! Why do all of them have hairy armpits??" Me: "Lol, boys just usually don't shave their pits." Anonymous: "WHY!?" Me: "Well, I don't know, girls do, and boys don't...not sure why." Anonymous (wide eyed): "Nuh-uh! My friends mom doesn't, he told me. He showed me a picture! It's like a jungle under there!" lol...I'll leave names out of this to protect the innocent (and unshaved) moral of the story, 7 year olds aren't very good at keeping secrets :) . (October 2010).

*(I will share names with this incident just so that when my siblings are older they can read this and know how funny they were.) While sharing stories about our day, my nine year old brother Levi said, "Amber got kicked in the chin at school!" That riled 7 year old Amber right up and she replied, "Yeah! And in the nuts!" Me, quite shocked: "Umm, Amber you don't have "nuts"..." Amber's quick response, "Yeeeahh! That's what they said!" (I'm assuming "they" were all of her friends. Amber is a major tom-boy, and has mostly boys as friends, so, at 7 they probably just consider her one of the boys.) Me, wanting to straighten out the facts (not to mention trying not to pee my pants with laughter): "Well, ..okay, but girls don't have "nuts"." Amber, easy to comply, "Hmm, okay, well, I got kicked in the "pee ring" then." Pretty sure that's medical terminology! Hope this doesn't offend anyone, but it was too good to not post! (October 2010)

"I'm going to dress up my dragonfly like a firefly!" Says an excited and confident 3 year old Sky. For Halloween of course! Hey, people dress up like different people, why can't bugs dress up like different bugs? For more insight into this adorable three year olds mind look here. (October 2010)

"Have you seen Little Mermaid 2?" "Ummm, I don't remember, which one is that again?" "Uh, the one with a 2 on it!!" I don't know how funny this actually sounds, but it was a conversation between two of our sunbeams I overheard. He obviously wanted to know what it was about! :) (November 2010)

A bewildered sunbeam, completely off topic: "You know, all of the people in this town just think it's Christmas!! But it's not! Don't they know it's Thanksgiving?" She said this very matter of factly, and with a little attitude...It's true though, Christmas comes earlier and earlier ever year! How many "Black Friday's" are we going to have this year??? (November 2010)

My sisters and Sky (3) were relaying one bad knock-knock joke after another to each other. Getting really excited that she might have a good one Sky killed her punch-line: "EYEBALL!!.....I mean KNOCK-KNOCK!!" (November 2010)

As Summer, Davey, and Sky drove from their house to ours (a total of 2 miles) Sky said the classic, "Are we there yet??!" Reply: "Umm, sweetie, you know Kaleena and Couper live really close to our house." Sky, "Oh, I know, I was just making sure they didn't move really far away or something." (November 2010)

Clinician: "Well, thank you! I'm so proud of you, you are just being so good today!" Student: "I know! It's because remembered to take my "alderall" (adderall)!" (November 2010)

Sky, randomly at the dinner table, "I have a foot blanket!" Response, "Oh....cool. Where is it?" Sky, "It's on my bed at home, I put my feet in it." Response, "lol, okay, so, do you just put it on your feet?" Sky, "No, I put it on my arms, and my stomach, and my face....." Response, "lol, lol, gross, why do you call it your foot blanket if you put it on your face?" Sky, "Because, it has feet on it." LOL, children really do know what they're talking about, it's the adults who don't understand. (November 2010)

Clinician to a Kindergardener: "So are you excited to be in the singing program tonight?"

Student: "No, I'm not doe-ing."

Clinician: "Oh, how come?"

Student: "Be-tuz, my dad said if I didn't doe den ice tweam is my fwend."

lol, I really wish that he had actually said "Ice cream is my friend." but it turns out I was misunderstanding, and he was saying he could go get ice cream with a friend. Still, funny. (November, 2010)

*Some names have been changed* As we were coloring pictures of pilgrims a student said, "This one is going to be Mrs. Johnson. And you can stay Mrs. Sorenson." Response, "Oh, okay, so that makes you Mr. Roberts." student looks at me confused, "Uh, no, that's my dad." (November 2010)

Hope you enjoyed! Like I said before, please send me any little words of wisdom that have made your day! Oh, and don't worry that I did have a different student tell me that I look like a vampire, shrug.

Little Words of Wisdom Part I

I am always surrounded by children, whether it be with my family, my sunbeams, work, or at the grocery store, kids really do say the darndest things and I've found that it really brightens my day to hear their little words of wisdom, so I'm going to try and keep an ongoing quote list from all of these innocent little ones that surround us daily. Hopefully it will brighten you're mood as much as it brightens mine! Enjoy.

"We went swimming in a lake, it was as warm as a cloud." --3 year old K, one of our genius sunbeams, she really said that complete sentence. (July 2010)

"If I crack my head open, can they give me a new one?" --My mom told me my little brother Levi asked her this a few days ago. (August 2010)

"It's weird he's gone already, I still just think about him every second of the month."--My sister Amber in response to my brother being gone on his mission for a week and a half. (August 2010)

"Gwammy! Gwammy! The stwangest fing just happened! The toilet just flushed by itself!" Said my flabbergasted 3 year old niece Sky as she came out of a gas station bathroom stall. (October 2010)

"You're all sweaty! And red!" -My sister Kionna as she hugged me after I finished a 5K, kids are just so honest. (October 2010)

"This is the boys bathroom." (my dad to my little brother) "No dad! It says MENS!" says a concerned Levi. (October 2010)

"You look like a vampire when you smile." --A third grade student I have for speech...again with the honesty, I'm well aware of my sharp canines! No need to point them out :)! (I should have told him I was a vampire, he was being kind of a turd that day.) (October 2010)

"I hope Jake forgets English." --my sister Kionna about our brother serving a Spanish speaking mission, a very random and unrelated comment. (October 2010)

(sister) Maddi: "What happened?!"

(sister) Amber: "I lost my tooth!...do you want to feel it?" (not the tooth...)

Maddi thinks about it for a minute, shrugs, "Sure!" Amber leans her wide open mouth close to Maddi and lets Maddi run her finger along her now exposed gums. --Kids are so curious...and sharing ... ? :) (October 2010)

After tucking in my younger brother and sister while having a sleepover at our older brothers house, I lied down next to them to chat about our adventures of the day. The chatting died down and we trickled into silence. Breaking the silence, Kionna blurted out, "How old is Couper's grandpa?" (wha???? lol, where did that come from?) I couldn't help but laugh, "Why?" Kionna: "He's gotta be like 30 right?" lol "What?" Kionna: "I'm related to Couper right?" lol...wondering where this is going, "Well, ya, he's your brother-in-law." After thinking about that for a minute, "Hmm, okay, so that kinda makes his grandpa mine too, huh." lol...(I thought it was funny, and completely random!) (October 2010)

(sister) Jenni to (3 yr old niece) Sky at something she did: "Awesome dude." After a moment of silence, Sky: "Could you not call me that?" in a very serious and somewhat concerned tone of voice. Jenni, stifling a laugh, "Why?" Sky matter of factly, "Because 'dudes' are men." (2010)

This one deserves a little bit of an explanation. If you'll recall from this post I mentioned that my sister Kionna (9 years) was very creative and super clever with her explanations while we played the game "Catch Phrase." For those of you unfamiliar with this game, a word shows up on the screen, and you have to think of any way you can to explain the word to the guessers without actually saying any parts of the words, letters, rhyming..you get the idea. So this was one of my favorites, the situation went something like this:

Kionna: "It's big, you can ride in it."

Us: "A car..."

Kionna: "Well, yeah! It fits in a car!"

Us: "..You can ride in it an it fits in a car...(thinking)"

Kionna: "Well, let me just go to the next part."

Us: "Okay..so it's 2 words?"

Kionna: "Yeah. Okay, so this is what dad is."

Us: "Uhh..driving? a person driving? a boy?..."

Kionna: "Well..but it's like a thing that can fit in a car."

This went on for a while...and we got confused.

Us: "I don't know if we're going to guess it. Do you want to just show us what it is?"

WORD: "CARMEN ELECTRA"

Us: "lol, lol, lol, do you know who that is? It's a person, not a thing."

Kionna: "Well, I wasn't sure, so I was just explaining the parts."

What a clever girl: CAR: something your ride in (she was just confusing us) MEN: what dad is, ELECTRA: we lost our patience. (October 2010)

I hope you enjoyed Part I of "Little Words of Wisdom." There were countless times that a child said something to me that I wanted to add to this post..but I forgot to write it down immediately and lost it. That's how life is, we think we'll remember the little things but they slip away from us so quickly. I'll try and do better for Part II, but wanted others to be able to enjoy this ASAP. Feel free to leave comments of Little Words of Wisdom that come from the little ones you love, or email me (kna_bna@msn.com) and I'll add it to Part II or III or whenever :).