Chitchat

Jack is at an age where he says a lot of funny things. I think it frustrates him at times when I laugh, because of course he is very serious when he says them. Other times, he acknowledges that he is an entertaining little guy.

He has told me a few times over the past several days, "I'm funny, but I'm wise." Or "I'm funny, but I'm right." I'm guessing this came from Tom.

Today, we went to the park with our friends. All the kids had taken off their shoes so they could run unencumbered in the sand. When it was time to go, we moms just packed the shoes in the car. As each child was climbing into his respective vehicle, each one asked, "Mom, did you get my shoes?" and each time Mom answered, "Yes."

Jack was the last child to ask, "Mom, did you get my shoes?" I couldn't help myself and said, "No" and quickly, "Just kidding. Yes."

Jack stopped in his tracks and looked at me. "What did you say?" he asked, accusingly. "For a second, it sounded like you were lying." Busted!

In the car, after the park, he out of the blue told me, "Remember when those jets were really loud and I cried? That was so bad. They could have really hurt my ears."

"Oh, yeah," I clucked, sympathetically.

"I've had some terrible things happen in my life," Jack sighed.

"Really?" I asked, amused. "Like what?"

"My lip."

"Oh, yes, of course. And what else?"

"Nothing else," he said, with an implied "Isn't that enough??"

"So the jets and your lip are the two terrible things that have happened to you?" I asked, thinking, "That's not so bad."

Then he launched into this whole spiel about the saga of his lip:

"Yeah. Remember my lip was so bad that my dad had to come? And we had to look and look for a hospital and then we had to wait for four hours? That was terrible. And I had that thing on my lip for the first time I went to preschool. It was really big and looked like this." He made a gesture with his hands.

"Oh, it was all swollen?"

"Yes."

It was amazing to hear him recount this story in detail. It had happened over a year ago. But I guess he's old enough that really vivid experiences, like having to go to the emergency room to get his lip stitched up, really make an impression.

Speaking of lasting impressions, Jack has been singing this song called "I Am a Pizza" that he learned in preschool over the last week. It is definitely an earworm that he hasn't been able to get out of his system. He told me, on the way home from school last week, "I have all these songs in my head. The more I sing them, the less I like them. They are starting to get on my nerves."

Another thing that has been getting on his nerves is his little sister. Their car seats are right next to each other, and Violet is starting to realize that she can get a rise out of him by putting her foot on or in his car seat. He's been complaining a lot about it lately, and I've been threatening to move his car seat further away from her. He clearly doesn't want that, but he still can't help complaining.

"Violet is getting to an age where she is starting to bother me in the car," he said.

Me: "Should we trade her in for another baby?"

Jack: "Mommy, you always say funny things like that. NO, we should NOT trade her in for another baby. Stop saying silly things."

Another funny phrase that he has been saying a lot is "Of coursely." I haven't had the heart to correct him.

A couple of days ago, we were playing in the backyard, and I noticed that there weren't any oranges left on our orange tree. Violet had been pulling them off before they were ripe, but Jack told me that most of the oranges were pulled off the last time his friends came to play. Remembering that started making him angrier and angrier that his friends pulled off the oranges, and he started complaining bitterly how they should have known better and that it was the wrong thing for them to do and they shouldn't have done it. I was trying to mollify him, but he was not going to be consoled.

"That wasn't part of the Lord's plan," he grumped.

I told him that maybe it was part of the Lord's plan so that he could learn patience and forgiveness. I don't think he was convinced.

One of my favorite things that Jack says is at night. I am usually the last one to leave his room. When I tell him, "Good night, I love you," he usually says, "Good night, I love you" back to me. But when I tell him, "Sleep tight" or "Sweet dreams," he usually answers, "Thank you." I don't know why it tickles me so much, but it just seems like such a uniquely Jack-Jack response.

He's funny, but he's wise.