Francis walked into the room and said, "When I grow up, I will be a bad guy army and then a good guy army." Apparently, being good to start with isn't as interesting.
Where'd you learn that?
Do you ever consider what slightly unusual phrases you may be teaching to kids through your writing?
My sons say "Make way!" instead of "Excuse me," when they want someone (usually one of their siblings) to move out of their way. Eventually, I may insist they switch to "Excuse me," but it's so cute and unusual that I'll let them do it for a while. I wondered for a while where they had learned that expression. I finally figured it out. It's in the song "Where You Are" from Moana.
Dragons!
In theory, words should make it possible to discuss anything, but sometimes, without the right setup and context, it can be hard to understand someone (especially if there are additional barriers to communication like not being a native speaker of the language or being very young). I recently had to "translate" the following statement by my three-year-old for his grandfather. This was said at dinner with no other context.
"Papa Jim, Anthony tricked me that you were a dragon. But you are not a dragon and you will never be a dragon."
Tiger!
The boys were looking for a missing toy and asked for their Dad's help finding "the tiger." When they were asked which tiger they were looking for they clarified that it was "The orange one with black stripes."
A story from Francis
Francis walked in the room and announced, "I got my dirty face again."
Me: "What happened?"
Francis (like he's about to tell a long story): "I was eating food and then I got my face dirty again."
What does that really mean?
Recently, Anthony came up to me and said, "We broke the window sill!" I was reasonably certain that they couldn't have broken the window sill, but that left the question of what had "broken" that they thought was called a window sill. I was hopeful that they hadn't actually broken glass since I hadn't heard shattering glass, but I still came to check it out. The "window sill" was actually a curtain rod that they had knocked down.
Grownup
I recently started drinking coffee (most) mornings. My spouse says, "It took three kids, but you're finally a grownup."
When reading a book about fire safety and fire trucks, Anthony (4) explained to me that, "Only grownups use matches. Just Daddy and Aunt Gina. Not Mommy or Nonna [his grandmother]."
Based on this evidence, you can decide whether or not I'm a real grownup.
Messages
Anthony (4) has learned to send a reply text message saying, "Ok." A surprising number of my texts could be answered this way without being inappropriate. It's a little disconcerting, because it means that Anthony can now answer texts from my phone in a way that will make the other person think I have some information or agreed to do something without me ever knowing about it. There are also situations where "Ok" could make sense but would seem rude or dismissive; "Congratulations!" or "I'm so sorry to hear that" might be the expected responses to certain messages.
As an amusing exercise, imagine what the effect would be if you answered every text message with, "Ok." Would it work or would people suspect a 4-year-old stole your phone?
On a recent trip to get their picture taken, the photographer asked the boys to move closer to the baby and say "Sissy." Francis looked at her like she was crazy or stupid and said, "Cecilia."
Francis' Dandelion Wish
Francis (2) was picking Dandelions and removing the white seeds. I told him he could blow them off. He tried, but it didn't work for him and neither did shaking, so he went back to pulling them off. I told him he could make a wish. He started singing, "We wish you a merry Christmas."