(Overheard conversation between Short and his buddy, also age five.)
Short: How many trees are in the world?
Buddy: I don’t know. How many?
Short: I’m asking you. How many?
Buddy: Tell me.
Short: (exasperated now) I don’t know! I’m asking you! How many trees in the world?
Buddy: Uh, I don’t know. How many?
Short: I think 3000.
Buddy: (silent agreement)
Short: How many dogs in the world?
Buddy: 10,000.
Short: I think so, too.
Buddy: Short, how many Santas in the world?
Short: How many what?
Buddy: Santas.
Short: (confident) ONE!
Buddy: Cor---rect! Good job.
I need to be the carpool-driving mom more often.
MOV
*amendment: At breakfast this morning, Short told me how Santa gets through locked windows and doors. "He's kind of like a ghost, Mom, that's how it works." So great to have a resident Santa expert in the house to explain these things to me.........................
I used to think that every country had there own individual Santa, as it would be inpossible for Santa to deliver presents to all the kids in the world on one night! That was my attempt at being logical :)
ReplyDeleteI love kids blunt, innocent conversations. The thing that's so great about them is that they're questions and answers are so genuine! They're not trying to sound smart/witty/intelligent for anyone :)
Aysh, you are absolutely right. When do we lose that self-consciousness that is so freeing? When do we cross that deadly threshold where we suddenly care what everyone thinks of us? *sigh*
DeleteWe need more dogs, that's just not a high enough number. Of course, dogs need trees to pee on, so we need more trees, too. Who's supposed to fix that?
ReplyDeleteJo, Agreed. When I heard the current dog to tree ratio, I completely panicked. Then I realized when Short counts, he says 2998, 2999, 3000, 10000. So, with his way of counting, we are only minus one tree. I will try to plant one this weekend to alleviate the crisis. ;)
DeleteIt is always good to jot down these priceless conversations...it seems like we will remember them all, but then so many more come!
ReplyDeletetrue! I constantly scramble for a shred of paper to write these things down.......... (damn maid hid all my paper and pencils, hate her)
DeleteI read this twice and thought about it for awhile, and asked myself this question: What did I reaLLy know for sure at age five? Well, I didn't even know my real name, I thought I was an 'Ernie' but found out a few months later when I started school that I was an 'Ernest'. Well, at least I knew there was a Santa Claus, I had home movies to prove that.
ReplyDeleteaha! now I can call you Ernie instead of having to type of esbboston. (or do you go by Ernest now, I can't win..........)
DeleteI am trying to be an Ernest, but I am called everything from E, Ern, Ernie, Ernest, and now one of my friends calls me Esby. Yet, amazingly I remain non-schizophrenic.
DeleteBy the way, Gweenbrick is such a hoot, even when he claims "no ideas syndrome". I love your race to be the first commentor. I comment in the middle of reading him sometimes. His comment section is very lively.
I'm thinking I'm gonna call you E then, much faster to type. :)
Deleteand I 100% agree about gweenbrick. and the comments are always crazy fun!
Ha! The thing that I miss most about teaching first grade is listening in to their funny conversations.
ReplyDeleteI did 4-5 year old Sunday School for about ten years, it was amazingly wonderful. My mother was mainly a kindergarten teacher for most of her career, so yes, lotza stories!
Deletestephanie, I did not know you used to be a first grade teacher. is that on your blog? are you going to go back to that at some point? you could definitely teach art too.
Deleteesbboston (aka ernie), would love to hear those stories! have you blogged about them, if yes, what is the link to that post?
I don't think I have ever blogged any Sunday School stories. It was mainly nice to just spend a quality hour once a week with a small group of small people being on their level, a break from the world of computer science and grown-ups. I still have friends from that era, now big people of course.
DeleteKeep writing this stuff down! You're going to be so happy you have it one day. Hilarious.
ReplyDeletetrue! it is so hard to not crack up laughing in the rearview mirror when they are so serious. :)
DeleteIn my house that conversation between brothers would end with the older saying to the younger, "What do I look like? A GPS?"
ReplyDeletecouse, is that his one-size-fits-all answer to his little brother's questions? (I might have to use that line...........)
DeleteYes, sometimes. The other response used to be, "Don't treat me like a unicorn!" We have NO idea what that was about, but for Christmas I made him a t-shirt with that phrase on it.
DeleteOMG, this is my new favorite thing. Don't treat me like a unicorn!!!!!!!!!!!! I want Haley at Haley's Comic to make the t-shirt, and I can write the post, and of course, couse you and your son get all the accolates and credit and any profits (after start-up costs........ so no profits).
DeleteDon't treat me like a unicorn!!!!!!!!!
xxo
MOV
Along the same theme: when we asked a young friend (age 4 at the time) what kind of birthday party she was going to have she replied "unicorns." Of course we "ooh-ed" and "ahh-ed" with approval. She talked about all the decorations and colors, etc. I then asked her, "What do unicorns eat?" I was expecting her to say something like "rainbows," or "glitter" or "sunshine." Her response: Ham.
ReplyDeleteMy son would probably be mortified to know his phrase is "famous" now, but I'm pleased you like it.
oh, ham. I feel so defeated now. I thought unicorns ate magic. Ham is so pedestrian.
Delete