Four, my favorite

We are settling into our school routine; it's been a total change of pace. A nice, quiet, productive one. Connor has had a very smooth transition to 3rd grade, and Isabel is crazy for kindergarten, even if she has been a bit tired, subdued and less chatty as she adjusts to this new excitement. It's a big step in one's young life.

Things will pick up next week with the start of preschool (Lucas); dance (Isabel); Chess Club (Connor); and soccer (Lucas). But these past couple of weeks have been blissful as I pick up the pieces of our lives ravaged by Hurricane Summer. I am loving spending more time with my two little dudes, who are just beautiful, delightful little boys.

It's totally obvious, with Connor and Isabel out of the house (although she's only gone 2 1/2 days/week) that a majority of the noise has gone out the door with them. The two little guys are so independent and easygoing. And crazy. Joyfully, wonderfully, crazy funny and imaginative. Especially my Lucas. Did you know 4 is one of my favorite ages? Well, it is.

(Just a couple of turkeys at the county fair)

The things coming out of that child's mouth keep me entertained all day. I had to record a few. Although Brian would like to forget one instance in particular, it's one of my favorite kid quotes ever, and therefore, I'd like very much to remember it.

- As I was cleaning out the dryer filter, Lucas walked in an asked, "what's that?" "Lint," I explained. His face lit up. "Oh yeah, I know what that is! Dad grows it in his belly button! I don't know how he does it, but isn't that amazing???"

- One of Lucas' favorite little toys-of-the-moment broke, a little plastic fish. He didn't seem too upset about it, so I asked where the fish was. "In the recycling," he replied matter of factly. I asked why he put it there, and he replied, with such naive faith in the recycling program, "because everything you put in recycling gets made whole again!" I'm wondering if PBS would like to explain to him that this does not, in fact, mean that broken toys get repaired and returned in their previous condition.

He loves his older brother and sister, but also relishes time alone when they're gone. I asked him the other day if he misses them, and without missing even one fraction of a second, said, "not even a little bit." Independent, that one.

Let me introduce you to a sampling of his 4-year-old vernacular. These are a few terms that Lucas has created, and the subsequent definitions in his own words:
- Lovehead: "a person that you really really love like a mom or a dad."
- Stemmy: "something that you call mean stuff that are not supposed to be nice, and your face is a flower and your body is a stem and your hands are leaves." It is a not a positive thing if Lucas calls you a "stemmy."
- Slab-dab-da: "you're stuck wherever you are forever and you eat garbage. The king of all mean pirates is the meanest of all and he's a slab-dab-da. It's for mean pirates that are not supposed to be nice."
- Gingk Gingk: see definition for stemmy
- And if he refers to something as a "stemmy stupidy slab-dab-da" you KNOW he means big time bad trouble. It's all so very black and white at this age: either you're good, or you're bad. And there ain't no messin' with the middle.

And now I'm really going to lay on the crazy: Lucas and Connor have personified our large
recycling and garbage containers. They have given them each a specific voice and like to "feed" them (by taking out the trash and recycling). I mean, it's really something else. The voices are HILARIOUS and they make them say "thank you'" whenever they've been "fed;" they also make them have conversations. To make them talk they actually make the lids up and down like they're puppets. I can't decide whether to file this under crazy or creative. It's interesting, to say the least.