Dot theHusband

I love sitting around talking with my girls, hearing their thoughts, spending time with them, and giggling like crazy. I love this time.

Today our conversation centered around Pixar movies. First came Remy (from Ratatouille).

Leah: "Mommy, is Remy a real person?"

Me: "Well, Remy is a character in a movie, but he's not real."

Leah: "So, he's not in our world?"

Me: "No, sweetie, Remy isn't in our world."

The conversation moved on to Cars.

Elise: "Mommy, why is Sally so bossy?"

Me: "Why do you think Sally was bossy?"

Elise: "Because she wanted people to come to the town?"

Me: "Yes, that's right. If no one came to the town, then no one would buy gas or tires, or stay at her car hotel. If no one was buying those things, then the town would run out of money, and everyone would have to move away."

Elise: "But Lightning McQueen helped. He bought tires and got his car painted."

Me: "Yes, he did."

Leah: "And, why was that green car so mean?"

Me: "You mean Chick Hendrix?" Well, he was selfish. He wanted to win the race, no matter who he hurt, and it's not okay to be mean to others so you can get ahead."

Now, I'd heard her refer to this person (I use that term very loosely) a couple of times. However, in my defense, we were eating at the time, and I was answering quite a lot of questions, so it took me a minute to catch on.

Leah: "Dot theHusband helped Lighting McQueen learn how to drive, didn't he, Mommy?"

Me: [Trying hard to squelch my laughter as I finally caught on to the fact that she was talking about Doc Hudson!] "Um, yeah, Leah. Dot theHusband helped Lightning McQueen learn how to take a sharp corner on gravel. Yes, he did."

Oh, yes, conversations with my children are always interesting, surprisingly poignant at times, and usually hysterical in certain points! This is, of course, when they're not talking back.

Isn't it amazing how quickly a bad habit develops? One time, you ask them to do something, and they jokingly respond with a "No!" You raise an eyebrow or warningly say their name to let them know that won't be acceptable. Yet, somehow, they test their limits again and again and again! After numerous warnings and time outs, I finally had to do it. It's been awhile, but I pulled the "free labor" card.

You may be wondering, "What the heck on earth is 'free labor?'" Well, "free labor" was a term we used back in my boarding school days to refer to some sort of job you had to do as a punishment for some infraction. It might be peeling tape off walls, washing walls, or some other unpleasant chore.

Today, Elise washed the walls in my dining room. Then she continued with her snotty back talk, so I sent her to her room for the remainder of the night (it was 5:30, and their bedtime is 7:30, so it's not like she was in there a ridiculous amount of time before bed). I've only done that one other time, but it was very effective. I'm pretty sure it's working again because after several tearful apologies, she also made me a little heart and wrote "I love you Mom" on it.

Oh yes, I love my sweet girls. Even when they're snotty talking back, even when they ask an incessant number of questions, even when I catch them dumping their bath water all over my bathroom floor. I love them even then! And, I'm so thankful each one of them is part of our family. I cannot even imagine what our home would be like without any one of them.

I'll leave you with a few pictures I took a couple of weeks ago, on a very warm Saturday afternoon (well, it was warm for up North, anyway).