Things They Say: Feelings, Fingers, and What Charlie Learned at Church

Existentialism at Wake Up Time

Early yesterday morning Charlie came into my room holding two of his most treasured lovies, Puppy (an orange stuffed animal fox from Ikea), and White Blanket (a receiving blanket he has had since babyhood). He stood by the side of my bed for a few minutes discussing Puppy and Blanket, before informing me solemnly of their emotional trials and triumphs, as follows:

Charlie: She (blanket) has black feelings, and Puppy has orange feelings. AND they both have MUSCLES!

Gory Details

Changing seasons is always funny with littler kids, because the last winter was such a huge portion of their lifespan away from this winter, that much of the experience feels brand new to them. For example, they are often freaked out by having to re-learn how to put on long-sleeved shirts or footie-pajamas, both of which Charlie has recently had to re-tackle. I also remember Gracie being a tripped out by the transition between shorts and long pants after a long season of forgetting about them. :)

The quick flip in temperature here (80 some degrees about three weeks ago, now highs are often in the 40s) has meant some new learning experiences. We've started taking blankets in the car when we drive Gracie to school and the other day we were all abuzz with admiration of the sparkling, newly-frosted rooftops and cars in our neighborhood.

One thing we hadn't yet discussed with Charlie was the magic of seeing your breath hang in the air like fog. He discovered it for himself when he waved to one of Gracie's teachers who he always greets at morning drop off, and from there drew his own conclusions about what was going on.

Charlie (shouting excitedly): I see gray mouth-blood coming out of him!!!


Musings After Bath Time

Charlie examined his wrinkly wet raisin-fingers after his bath tonight, and then happily exclaimed:

My fingers look like turtles!

Steve taught Charlie to do "Blue Steel" at dinner this week. :)

What Charlie Learned at Church

Sometimes at mealtimes, I make that often futile attempt to discover what my kids' days were like when they were away from me. Today at lunch I spent a few seconds trying to divine which lessons the kiddos were taught in Sunday school.

Me: What did you learn in your class today?
Charlie: Ummmm... I didn't think about it yet.

(This is Charlie code for either 1. I can't remember, 2. I don't understand the question, or, 3. I'm not interested in this line of conversation. Assuming he meant response 2, I tried rephrasing.)

Me: Well, what did your teacher tell you about?
Charlie: Um, just to get back in my seat. Lots of times!