What do you have in your nose?

Sam: Daddy. You have hair in your nose. Why do you have hair in your
nose? I only have snot in my nose.

The vileness made a little better by some preschooler humor

Sam: Mommy, what happened to your voice?
Me: I lost it.
Bill: Do you think Mommy forgot it somewhere?
Sam: No.
Me: Do you think the Sea Witch took it like Ariel's?
Sam: (looking all around) I don't see her around here. She's at home
in her nest.
Bill: Should I send my friend to get Mommy's voice back? He scuba
dives.
Sam. No. The seashore is closed. She locked it up.

The magic of Oz

How to determine the representation of your child's age changes as they age. Up until about 2 to 2 1/2 years old most people go by months. Why? Because less than 1 is not yet a year, one is singular while year is usually referred to in the plural, so you can't say Baby Snookums is 1 years old, and lastly, there is still so much of a difference in growth and development from month to month at that age. Once they hit 3 years old the changes come more slowly as do the age changes. 3, 3 and 1/2, almost 4 which is what prompted this post.

Lately people have been asking me how old the girls are and I've been replying with, "Three and a half." This past week or so I realized they are going to be 4 in less than a month, so the real answer is, "Almost 4." However, I'm not ready for 4 year olds. 1 was exciting, we had hit that first milestone. 2 was a whirlwind, but 3 has gone by at lightening speed. This is the last year I have with my babies before they go to Kindergarten. Yep, you heard me right, Kindergarten. So, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, I would like to click my heels together 3 times, and say, "There's no place like 3, there's no place like 3, there's no place like 3," and magically be granted another wonderful year with my girls before I must relinquish them to the cold, cruel land of Winkie Country which the Wicked Witch of the West rules.

Why oh why must tarantula's be part of a pre-schooler science class?

My girls have been taking science classes for almost a year now (they start them at 3 y.o.), and the topics have varied from kinetics to classification of vertebrates to the Rainforest, and everywhere in between. One of the classes they're currently attending relates to the diet of the zoo animals. They get to prepare the food (for some, not all), and feed many of the animals (depends on safety, etc.) This weeks subject was carnivores. They like to bring animals in as much as possible, and since bringing in one of the jaguars or a shark was not feasible they selected a snake and a tarantula. Yes. A taruatula. If you know me, you know that this is one of the few things that I am deathly afraid of, and yet there it was. I couldn't show fear as I don't want to pass this on to my daughters, but it was really tough when the teacher TOOK THE TARANTULA OUT OF IT'S HOUSE AND LET THE KIDS PET IT! Lucky for me, the girls were so excited by seeing and touching the tarantula that they didn't notice me quietly backing up to the other side of the room. Had it come anywhere near me I'm afraid the zoo would be looking for a new one.

Odometer rollover

Today I had the unique experience (at least to me) of seeing my
'odometer' rollover. What's so noteworthy about that you ask? Because
the rollover was on my camera that I've had slightly more than a year,
and the rollover number was 10,000. That's right, more than 10,000
photos in a year. My camera is now at 00043 and that doesn't count the
thousands of photos I've taken on my digital SLR that I got at
Christmas.

BBQ or attempted murder? You decide.

So last night Bill came home from work, and went to light the BBQ to cook some chicken he had been marinating. All was well and fine until he went to light the BBQ with the Scripto Windresistant lighter that the Easter Bunny left in his basket with other BBQ implements. As he pulled the lighter away from the coals, he noticed there was a bit more fire than there should be and immediately dropped the lighter on the ground. This is what it looked like 2 minutes into the burn:

Of course I had to get pictures, and of course that meant I had to get too close. Just as soon as the words, "Susan, I think you should back away from the lighter" were out of Bill's mouth, there was a little explosion and a lot more flame. I almost broke a leg in the process of jumping back. This is what the second burn looked like:

This is what the lighter looks like today.

And they were right. This was a wind resistant lighter. I think I may be sending them photos of this lighter.

I couldn't be more proud

We're here at the park playing, and a little girl walks up to Sam,
Riley, and Val. Riley asked her what her name was, then said, "Nice to
meet you. This is my sister. Her name is Bing Bong (her nickname).
I'm Riley Roo. This is Balderie (Valerie)."

Apparently they do pay attention every once in a while.