Some Conversations with My Kids

Warning: Self-Satisfied Mommy Blogging.

1.

The kids and I are walking from the ballfield to our car along a narrow edge of grass beside the parking lot. The Lego Savant's hand bumps mine every time it swings back as I walk.

Me: Are you doing that on purpose?

Lego Savant: Doing what? [He grins mischievously.]

Me: We should have named you Alec. For Smart Alec.

Word Boy: What should you have named me?

Me: Um...

Lego Savant: Brain Boy. Um... The Knower, because you know so much.

Me: The Thinker.

The Tiny Tornado: I am The Thinker, too. Because I am always thinking of things. I always have ideas.

Word Boy: I don't really know so much, it's more like I am always asking questions.

Lego Savant: The Questioner. Curiosity Man!

2.

Word Boy reads in his bunk bed until I get the Tiny Tornado settled, and then I go in to tuck him in. He says, "I like my bunk bed. I like my room." He looks around the room, and then says, "Hey, are the blades on the ceiling fan tilted on purpose, or did something happen to them?"

Me: It's on purpose so they push the air better.

Him: Are all fans like that?

Me: Yeah, pretty much. And propellers.

Him: Huh, I didn't know that. I guess I thought they would just be straight. How did they make them that way? Do they twist?

I inspect the fan: No, the blades themselves are straight, but the things that hold them on are made so that they hold them at an angle.

Him: Ah.

He collects his five special stuffed friends and gathers them into his arms while I climb onto a stool and turn the tangled ball of covers back into a sheet and a blanket. He lies down, all five friends in his arms. I cover him up. He rolls on his side, tugs the blanket up under his chin, and closes his eyes. He gets the same supremely contented look that he has gotten every day of his life when he feels cozy and safe. And then he is asleep.

3.

We are at the park, me and my three kids and a 4-year-old friend ("The Boy With the Beautiful Smile," maybe. Accurate, but too long. I'll have to keep thinking). The Lego Savant is pushing the other three on the tire swing. He gets them really going, then sits beside me on the bench to watch them spin. They are hanging their heads backwards and laughing and laughing.

The Lego Savant: I love making little kids happy.

4. One night, at a Chinese restaurant in Philadelphia, the Lego Savant keeps finding water chestnuts on his plate even though they aren't part of his dish. The Tiny Tornado is sneaking them on there, it turns out, because he knows how much the Lego Savant likes them.

5. That's it. Mostly I just wanted to try out this new blogging software for the iPad.

6. Smug, self-satisfied mommy blogging? Don't say you weren't warned.