Optimist or Pessimist?

Is The Glass half full?

Our family went to a great park and were playing happily.  Avery, now 3 years old, told her Mom, Audrey, "I have to go to the bathroom".  The only option was the parking lot porta-potty.  Reluctantly, Audrey took Avery to the bathroom.  Unfortunately, the generally well-kept porta-potty was especially stinky.  While in the stall, Avery looked at Audrey and said, "It is going to smell really yummy when we get out of here".

Olympic Diving Preview

Shiny Sidewalks

My daughter Avery, (3 years old), and I were walking outside a museum and she was staring intently on the sidewalk.  She looked at me and said, "This sidewalk is shiny".  I had not noticed and looked down to see there were reflections coming off the rather smooth  grey sidewalk beneath our feet.  As we continued to walk and look at the sidewalk, I said, "The sidewalk is different than other sidewalks, maybe it is because it is made with granite". She nodded in agreement and said, "Yes, like pomegranate".

Audience of One

Same Trick - Different Day. Enjoy

Baby Sitting Buster

A friend of ours, Alex, was staying at our house while his house was unlivable.  He brought along his Beta fish, "Buster".  Our kids love Buster and fight over who gets to feed him.

Alex moved back into his house but we kept Buster while things in his house settle down.  Tonight, Alex came over to pick up some things he left behind and asked Bryce, our 5 year old daughter, "How's Buster doing?"  Bryce answered, "He's not dead, yet!!"

Independent Thinkers

Our kids are all very independent thinkers.

Our daughter Bryce is 5 and thinks outside the box.  The other day I asked her, "Are you smart like Mommy, or smart like Daddy.  She answered, "Who do you want me to be smart like?"

Our daughter Avery is very precocious.  Last weekend we brought olives to our picnic.  We divided some of the olives equally amongst the kids. I was shocked when all the kids ate the olives.  Avery asked for more and I gave her the container with about 15 olives left.  A minute later, I looked back and Avery had eaten all the olives and was in the process of drinking the brine from the container.  I just shook my head and rolled my eyes.

Later that day I was talking with Avery and said, " Maybe you have bad poop because you ate too many olives."  She replied, "I did not eat too many olives."  I was not sure to say as I earlier I had just seen her eat the container of olives.  I also knew she was overdosing on blueberries, so I asked her if she was eating too many blueberries and she nodded and said, "Yes, I eat a lot of blueberries."  I can only imagine the amount of blueberries she had eaten.

Later in the week, for fun I asked Avery, "What do you like better, blueberries or olives?"  She answers emphatically, "Steak!"

Helping Out

Helping Out

Cooper, now 5 years old, is not our best helper when it comes to cleaning up - he much prefers running around and playing, (who knew).  Our girls, and Chase, were all upstairs getting ready for bed and Cooper and I were left in the kitchen together.  I had to empty and refill the dishwasher and Cooper asked it he could help.  I agreed and gave him the "instructions" on emptying the dishwasher, mainly to match up like items.  He started with the plastic plates, then the plastic bowls and cups and lastly went to tackle to silverware.  We have two sets of silverware and the forks have different number of tines.  So he intently counted the tines, sized up the fork and put all the silverware in the correct spot.  Before finishing the task, he stopped, looked at me and said, "Thanks Dad, this is great fun."

Averyisms: Two year old chatter

Our 2 year old daughter Avery is very talkative and has a great vocabulary for someone who is 30 inches tall.  These are some of the tidbits we heard on our short 4 day vacation.

On this recent vacation, after a dinner out, I brought a drink with me in a portable cup.  On the drive back to our vacation condo, Avery sees me drinking, (lemonade), and she asks, "Daddy, why are you drinking and driving?"

All of the kids love candy.  After a dinner out we took all the kids to a famous candy store and let them choose a small "bag" of whatever attracted their eyes.  Avery guarded her candy and held it close to her body.  She looked at me and said, "I am going to save some for next year."  Soon after, she corrected herself and said, "I am going to save this candy for Halloween."

We chose to drive back from the vacation during nap time.  We went out for dinner and then drove back to our house.  When Avery got out of the car she was horrified and shrieked, "Noooooo, not this house."

Where do babies come from? 2

A few weeks ago our 5 year old triplets had a sudden interest in the topic, "Where do babies come from?"  I will briefly recap the previous post and then add the follow up.

It so happened that at this same time Audrey, their mom, recently read a parenting article that detailed a good way to tell the kids how babies are made and said that we are at a good age to begin the discussion. One dinner, Darcy one of the triplets most interested in figuring out this mystery again asked, "Where do babies come from?"

Using her "parenting article" as her resource, Audrey told the kids, "Mommy has eggs, like a chicken, and Daddy has sperm, and when the egg and sperm get together, the baby begins to grow".  Darcy frowned at Audrey and said, "no no no Mommy, I want to know where people babies come from".

Now a few weeks later Darcy is still struggling with the mystery of where babies come from.  Again at the dinner table, out of the blue she yells, " Do babies come from eating a lot of food, or what?"

Strangers

I still find it surprising and great that our kids freely talk to adults without any hesitation. This morning I was outside walking around with our 5 year old daughter Bryce and 2 year old daughter Avery.  A random car was driving slowly down our street and Avery began waving and saying hello to the car.  Alarmed, Bryce, generally not our best rule follower, said, "Avery, we do not talk to strangers!".  Avery continued to wave and say, "Hello" and then looked at Bryce and said, "They are not STRANGERS, they are people!"

Medium

Darcy our 5 year old daughter has been using the word medium in sentences and I thought it would be fun to ask her what her definition of the word is.

Daddy, "Darcy, what does medium mean?"
Darcy, "It's not big, and not small -  it's medium."

No Pooping Zone.

Having 5 children 5 and under is very busy and fun.  Much of the children's humor centers around poop and the toilet.  Just saying "toilet" is funny for our 2 years old daughter Avery.  Last week I took the kids out for an "adventure", (which in our house is a walk around the block).  The kids are also very into signage and are always asking what things say.  On our walk, our 5 year old daughter Bryce saw a new sign on a lawn  and asked what it said.  I told her the sign said " NO POOPING ZONE" and had a picture of poop.  Bryce looked a little confused.  She looked up at me and said, "What if the dog can't read?"

Daddy you dress nicely.

Friday night the family was on the way to synagogue.  I was undoing the seat belt of our 4 year old son Cooper when we arrived and he looked me up and down and said, "Daddy, you always dress nicely when we come to synagogue".  I said "thank you", and was surprised not ever thinking my son assesses the clothes I wear.  I had an epiphany and I said to Cooper, "If you like the shirt I am wearing I can buy the same for you and you can dress like me".  Cooper looked at me and said, " No thank you.  I want race cars on my shirt".

Where do Babies come from?

All of a sudden our nearly 5 year old triplets are very interested in knowing where babies come from.  Audrey recently read an article that said that now is a good age to tell the kids how babies are made.  Darcy, who is most interested in figuring out this conundrum asked again at dinner tonight. Using her "article" as her resource, Audrey told the kids, "Mommy has eggs, like a chicken, and Daddy has sperm, and when the egg and sperm get together, the baby begins to grow".  Darcy frowned at Audrey and said, "no no no Mommy, I want to know where people babies come from".

Interior Decorating

Bryce, one of our daughters, and  now nearly 5 years old has taken a liking to interior decorating.  She moves framed photos to different locations and has even moved her playroom furniture to what she considered a more appealing layout and then asks us for our opinion.  The other day she was talking with Audrey, her Mom, and she mentioned she wanted to change the furniture up in the family room.  Audrey asked her the obvious question of, "where do you want to move it"?  Bryce replied, "To a new house".

Who is the best Singer

Last night when I was cleaning up after dinner with the kids and again when brushing their teeth, I sang parts of the classic song, "Celebration" by Kool and the Gang  The kids seemed really into the song, which was shocking to me, and before going to read books before bed I decided to show them the video of the song from the 80's on YouTube.  They sat watched and listened attentively.  I then asked, who sings the song better, Daddy or Kool and the Gang.  Darcy responded diplomatically, "you are both good".  Again I was surprised, as I am not the best at carrying a tune.  Avery our 2 year old daughter was watching attentively had an epiphany and said, "The Chipmunks (Alvin, Theodore and Simon) sing this song".  And Darcy and Bryce nodded in agreement.  Darcy then pipes in, "They sing really goooooodddd."

Avery's Awesome Dance Moves

My favorite dance moves ever. Let me know if this is more or less addictive than Psy in Gangnam Style.

Click the link to view Avery's Awesome Dance Moves

Passover Classic: Finding the Afikoman and more

With the upcoming holiday in mind, i have re-edited my favorite Passover movie.  Click the link

Finding the Afikoman and more....

Where's our next stop

Audrey, Avery and Chase were running errands earlier this week.  Audrey told Avery, our 2 year old, that they had to go to shopping at Costco and Old Navy.  Audrey asked Avery where the first stop was going to be.  Avery said, "At the red light".

Cribs

Cribs

Avery is now 2 and a half and she sleeps in her crib very happily.  A couple of weeks ago, after putting all the kids to bed, Audrey and I were up late packing for a trip when we were surprised to see Avery walking down the hall towards us.  Audrey asked me the obvious question, "Did you put Avery in her crib?"  I said" Yes, I did".  We asked Avery how come she was out of her crib and she said, "I'll show you".  And we were led back down the hall following a 35 inch toddler. I lifted her back into her crib.  She immediately grabbed the top of the side rail, and lifted one leg sideways over the bar,swung herself over the side rail and slowly began rappelling down the outside of the crib. While she was sliding down the outside of the crib she looked at us and said, "It's not hard".

Funny happenings

Baby Brudder

A few months ago, shortly after Chase was born the family attended Friday night services at our synagogue.  The kids love to participate and during the service the Rabbi asked the congregation if there was anything of note they wanted to announce to the other members of the group.  Darcy, our 4 year old daughter and one of our triplets, immediately raised her hand and was the first called upon to make an announcement.  Darcy proudly announced that she had a new baby brother, to which she received  many "Mazel Tovs".  The Rabbi went around the room and the group listened to a few other announcements from the congregation.  Just as the Rabbi wanted to move on the next part of the service, Bryce, our other 4 year old daughter triplet raised her hand to make an announcement.  Proudly, Bryce announced that she had a new baby brother.  Without missing a beat, Darcy piped in, "He's the same one"!

Who is Gorgeous.

The whole family went to the zoo and we were playing in the petting zoo.  I was "monitoring" Avery's whereabouts.  Another parents comes up to me and looking at Avery says, "She is the most beautiful child I have ever seen."   I smiled and said, "thank you".  She then looked like she had an epiphany and said, "I mean, after my kids of course". 

What's Your Name?

It is very surprising to me that our kids are not intimidated by adults and feel free to ask questions.  A few weeks ago we were out for dinner and we were preparing to leave.  The kids started talking to our waitress and she stopped to chat.  Cooper saw her name tag and asked, "What's your name?" She replied," My name is Brandy".  Cooper looked at her and said, " I have a Yuval in my class".  She did not have anything to respond.