I heard

So a few weeks ago, my little brother and his girlfriend kinda parted ways for a while. Maria is the type of girl who would immediately ask about things if she sensed anything was off, so I figured that, to avoid any awkward moments, I'd just have a little chat with her.

Mama: "Hey guys, I just wanna let you know something."

Maria: "okay, what?"

Mama: "Whitney isn't Pat's girlfriend anymore. They are just friends."

Maria is quiet and I look back and tears are rolling down her cheek.

Maria: "But why? Why does she not wanna be his girlfriend?"

Mama: "Well they just wanna be friends."

Maria: "Will we still see her?"

Mama: "Yep, I'm sure we will still see her."

Jamie (who has been quiet as a mouse the whole time): "But pat won't!!"

Okay, so fast forward to a couple nights ago. Pat and his girlfriend got back together a while ago and I'm of course thinking I probably shouldnt have even said anything about it to Maria. Anyway, we are at the swimming pool and Maria goes up to Whitney.

Maria: "I heard all about it. I heard about you stopping being Pat's girlfriend. My mom told me and I cried a little."

Awwwwkkkkkward.

Exciting Games

Tonight we went to Costco. Ah, Costco. Where aisles and aisles of books and dvds turn into awesome hiding places for 3 and 5-year-olds. Where sample cups get shoved into purses. Where you can eat dinner for $1.50 per person. I love you, Costco.

So anyway, we were at Costco. Danny was checking out (we got some sweet office furniture like a desk and a bookshelf along with other necessities like a Nintendo DS game, a book, and a shirt) so I took the 3 small ones over to the food court. We got our usual: cheese pizza for me and Jamie and a hot dog for Maria. As we're going to sit down, we spot Alison, Lauren and J.J....3 of our little friends (they are 6, 4, and 2). We go and sit down next to them. JJ has to use the bathroom so while her mama is taking her, we got to sit with the big girls.

Maria: "What did you guys do today? What did you play?"

Alison: "We played the pick up game. We played outside. We went to our friends house and we played with their tiny kitten. It's this big (she stretched her hands out -- she was lying, it wasn't a tiny kitten, but I guess that's not the point)."

Maria: "Oh. So did you guys play anything exciting at all?"

Because apparently picking up, playing outside, and playing with kittens is way too boring for my girl. . . . .she was just jealous.

Nurse

The kids were downstairs playing (I send them down when I need 2 minutes to myself). Jamie was playing doctor and Maria was playing Barbies. All of a sudden Maria comes up crying.

Maria: "MOMMMMMM! Jamie hit me!"

Mama: "Why?"

Maria: "He was playing and then hit me and said, 'that's what you get for not being a nurse.'"

So naughty. And secretly, really really hilarious.

Selling Alice

Maria: "Mama, Alice is cute. Let's not sell her."

We were so close, too....

Mountains

Maria: "Mom, how many feet high are mountains?"

Mama: "Lots and lots and lots."

Maria: "Oh, wow."

Jamie: "Mama, how many fingers high are mountains?"

Mama: "Even more."

Jamie: "Wow....cool."

Extra Special

At my parent's house, the kids have a little box full of things like a stapler, tape, a notebook, pens and other stuff so they can play office. One of the items is a smiley face stamp. That is the one item that both kids really really want to have when they play. Tonight, Jamie got the stamp. Maria is funny. She isn't really a whiney, screaming, crying, naughty kid (that's not saying she never does these things, but she doesn't do them a lot). Sometimes, she's super subtle in her sassiness.

So Maria obviously was coveting the smiley face stamp. Jamie was stamping a notebook with the smiley face stamp. Maria got jealous. With her yellow highlighter, she drew a big "X" right through the middle of one of the smiley faces. My mom caught her doing it and kind of scolded her. Jamie saw it, too...

Jamie: "Oh, Maria! That big "X" makes it extra special!"

Her sassy plan totally backfired.

Soup

Maria. Maria who lives in her own little world where every sentence is sung, dance is the way you get around, and your thoughts consist of....soup?

We were at my mom and dad's house and had just gotten out of the pool. We went upstairs and for some reason (I rarely know why Maria does some of the things she does) Maria went out to the garage. 2 minutes later we hear a THUMP!

Maria (Crying): "MOOOOOOMMMMMM!"

Mama: "What happened??"

Maria: "Well.....well......uhm, well....I hit my head."

Mama: "Well how?"

Maria (still crying): "I ran into that thing because I was thinking of soup."

Number

I love Jamie. His little mind works like no other mind I know. He is hilarious and smart and the things he says are sometimes just too much! The other day we were in the car on the way back from Moscow (where Maria has ballet).

Jamie: "Mama....I wish I was a number."

Mama: "Why?"

Jamie: "Because then people would count me."

There is something so funny about this. There is also something very smart about this. And finally, there is something (I can't quite put my finger on it) very heartbreaking about this. Ah, Jamie.