The Sloth?

While sitting at dinner I notice that Nate has a scratch beside his eye, so as a concerned, caring mother, I ask, "Nate, what happened to your eye?" This is the answer I got:

Well mom, I was pretending to be a sloth while I was climbing the tree in the back yard. And not just any sloth mom, I was being the species with three toes, ya know, the Three Toed Sloth. Because there are lots of species of sloths, but only one with three toes.

Anyway, I was pretending to be a Three Toed Sloth and I had my eyes closed and was grunting hanging from the tree and I ran into a branch!

What do you say to that? Hum, I bet it has happened to a sloth!

All I can say is this, I can't imagine what families miss out on when they don't eat meals together. We have the most random, wonderful conversations. Oh, and by the way, Jake thinks it would be really cool to milk a cow when he is four:)

Girl in the Box

So...Jake just came into the house from the garden with mud and grass all over his shoes. When (type A mom) I say, "Jake freeze, you have mud!" He proceeds to "freeze" and then decides to take care of that mud and grass and wipe his feet right where he stands! Fixed! What was I worried about..right? Anyway, he comes in toting a bag full of all his abundant harvest from the garden. I really love that they enjoy being in the garden however..the bags of 2" long zucchini and 1" long green beans combined with a few beautiful raspberries (with pees stuffed in the middle, I've heard they are better that way!) doesn't go very far for a family of five. I would really be happy with maybe a 8" long zucchini or 4" green bean, I'm just saying. It is so hard to WAIT for it to grow! So back to my story... He pulls out his bag and hands over the 3" long summer squash with a big smile and says, "Mom, I got you a squash. But, I think it is just enough for maybe you and dad, maybe Nate. I know it's not big enough for me to have any! But, that's OK, I know you like it a lot." And, that is when it hits me, looking at his little smile that has turned into a half-smirk. He is intentionally picking them just big enough that there is "just not enough" for him. So thoughtful of him to give up his share, Little twirp! So then he says, "What you doing?" I say,"Making jam and listening to music on my I-pod." Jake says with much contemplation, while looking at the I-pod speaker, " Mom...how did you fit the girl in the little box and make her sing?" Sometimes, I just don't know how to answer his questions! What do you say to that? "I don't know honey, but maybe she is hungry. Why don't you feed her one of those 1" green beans!:)