Out of the Mouths of Babes...

I'm always amazed at the things that come out of our kids' mouths. Sometimes it's so random. Last night at dinner, we were discussing possible vacation spots. The following conversation ensued:

Austin: "I know there's one place I definitely don't want to go on vacation: Texas!"
Daddy: "Why is that? What's wrong with Texas?"
Austin: "That place is disgusting! Those people don't even take showers!"
Mama: "What do you mean, they don't take showers?"
Austin: "Well, they just wash off with water out of a barrel. And they only have one set of clothes."

We continued to ask questions about this Texas place, and we finally decided that Austin's been reading World Book Encyclopedia, the 1880 edition. It was all we could do to keep from laughing. He really pictures Texas the way it was more than a century ago, with dirty cowboys and barrels everywhere.

Over the years, I've been keeping a list of the funny things the kids say. I know the time will come all too soon when the funny mispronunciations and wacky misunderstandings will slow down. I don't ever want to forget that Austin loved watching "Hukes of Dazzard" with his Uncle Pete, or the time he saw a swap (it was actually a wasp) buzzing around in the car, or the time he asked for some Vanilla Wipers (wafers). Once, he came home from school upset about his boo-boo. Apparently, he hurt his finger and it interrupted with blood like a volcano! How do you bandage the boo-boo without laughing at that line? He's also always trying to get me to buy something from those infomercials on TV. Last year, he came up to me and said, "Mom, are you tired of cleaning the hard way? You need the Sonic Scrubber. Just use it and wipe with a clean cloth." That kid has a bright future in marketing.

And Kendall, dear Kendall! When she was 2 years old, she was convinced that Santa Claus should bring her cheese. I told her that surely she wanted something more than cheese. She said, "OK. Chicken too." Santa did deliver some cheddar cheese to her that year; I don't think chicken transports well from the North Pole. Kendall also ends her prayers most nights with, "God Bless the Braves." They probably need the prayers anyway.



There really is nothing like the innocence of a child. I know we're not the cool parents because our kids aren't allowed to watch the Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon regularly. They watch Boomerang, because it has older cartoons from when we were growing up-when the world was a much less dangerous place. Or at least it seemed that way. They also don't have all the latest video games. If we could just hold on to that innocence for a little longer, it'd be OK with us. So we're slow to correct these misperceptions, as long as there's no danger in it. Except those poor people in Texas. I bet they really stink...