What's a Tsunami?

During afternoon snack the other day, I overheard this conversation between Ethan and his best buddy, Dylan....
Dylan: Did you know that there's a tsunami?
Ethan: Are tsunamis coloring books?
Dylan: No. They wreck up things. They are bad, bad, bad. If you go to one, you will get really hurt.
I'm not surprised that Ethan didn't know about tsunamis. I watch the news in the morning, before he's awake, but why did he think they are coloring books?!

Really, Really Strong!

Don't you just love those moments when little ones get really excited about something and talk with such emotion! Ethan was doing just that the other night! Here's part of the story he was telling Josh:
"I'll be really strong when I get your age, cuz you're really strong.....really, REALLY strong! If I call for help you can come with your gun.....I mean your potato gun, and you can load it with potatoes and blast what the problem is!"

Out of Luck

Last night, Ethan was helping Josh make fajitas for supper. From the other room, I could hear him telling Josh that he wanted his chicken plain, with no seasoning or vegetables. Josh must have just started mixing everything together, because then I heard Ethan say, "Dad, am I out of luck or will I not have any on mine?"
F.Y.I. He was out of luck, but he actually liked it anyway!

Will You Miss Me?

A few weeks ago, Ethan and Olivia spent 2 nights at Gramma Joni's house so Josh and I could celebrate our anniversary. As I was packing the bags, I said to him, "I'm gonna miss you."
Ethan replied, "I'm not gonna miss you."
A little shocked and hurt, I said, "You're not!?"
He said, "No, but you can still miss me."

Generosity at Its Finest

The other night before bed, Ethan was talking about his birthday party that is coming up in a couple weeks. He told me, "I'll let my friends play with my present paper......but not my presents."
Isn't that generous of you, Ethan!

Street Smarts!

The other night, we had the TV turned to The World's Dumbest People or something crazy like that. At one point it showed a man on a skateboard ride across the street without looking and get hit by van. Ethan just so happened to look up from playing to see the whole thing. I decided to take this opportunity to review some road safety rules. I said, "And that's why we should never play in the street. If you need to cross the street for any reason, you must hold an adult's hand."
Ethan looked at me, and with a little fear in his voice said, "But that was an adult!"
We decided to change the rule to:
If you need to cross the street for any reason, you must hold a responsible adult's hand.

Big Brother Duties

Ethan has been picking on Olivia a lot lately, so I sat down with him recently and explained to him his role as a big brother. I told him that it's his job as a big brother to protect Olivia, not hurt her.
With a little whine in his voice, he responded, "But I never get to play?"
Apparently he believes protecting Olivia is a full-time job!