Drama.

Just what is so entertaining to a 7-year-old about acting out an entire Tom & Jerry episode? Except that I think someone was feeling a little left out since the entire family had taken a nap but him (his choice) and when we all woke up, the need for some extra attention prompted this version of "Charlie's Theater".

If this is the first time you have been around Sam, you will probably walk away from him either thinking he is a huge pansy or we are beating him. Neither is true, but the kid says "ouch!" more than anyone I know. He walks around the corner. Ouch! Climbs into the car. Ouch!! Sitting on the couch. Ouch!!! The freckle on his thumb. Usually a double ouch. But he can fall down and bust his face open and we're done after a few tears.

In the throes of Halloween, Charlie brought me a goody bag from a friend and wanted to know what was in this "exabus" bag. Huh?? Sometimes we just make up words when we aren't real sure how to say the word actually needed. Which in this case was skeleton. Also, a "kabus" which is a chimpanze. And my favorite and the one that actually makes sense, "candy cot" for cotton candy. For the record, it's just not fair that all the other kids had candy cot and Charlie didn't. Never mind that he had already eaten his.

Sam's language has exploded. So much so, that he isn't sure exactly which word to use, so he just uses all of them in one sentence. For example, "What's that where ya going?" which translates to him wanting to know where we are headed. And a few more: "Whatcha doin' looking at?", "Whatcha doin for?", and "Who's that kind is it?" My personal favorite. "Where's the put it up?" Because I just told you to put your toys up and you need further clarification as to where to put them.

A recent conversation between Grace (9), Charlie (7) and Emma (5) on the way to school: Charlie's class was going on a field trip that day to a farm. And Emma's class had gone the week before, so they were trying to out-do each other with their farm knowledge. Charlie exclaims that he had fed the chickens and the porkchops the last time he went to the farm. (In Charlie Land, porkchops are peacocks. See here for explanation.) Emma could top him. She had gotten to pet the cows and some of the other kids had been given permission to touch the gutter. I quietly listened as she continued to explain that the cow's gutter was where the milk came from. Finally Grace piped in with her 4th grade knowledge to explain that it was an udder, not a gutter.

We had some rough weather a couple of weeks ago and were under a tornado watch which prompted the schools to go into tornado-mode. I instantly worried about Charlie since he had never done something like that and I was certain he would be scared. And a little background information. He is scared to death of bad weather. Even rain. And especially thunder. So, when I asked my customary "how was your day?" when he got home, I immediately got, "I THOUGHT I WAS GONNA DIE!" as he demonstrated on the floor how he had to sit. Just a touch dramatic, don't you think?