Three

On parenting, there is one thing I feel I can say with a fair amount of certainty. Three years old is the best age for laughs. They have enough language to say a lot, but not enough understanding to get it right all the time and the stuff that comes out is PRICELESS. Or maybe it's just the way the world appears to them - or maybe it's both. Either way, it's so enjoyable.

The last 2 Christmas cards, I've sent out a list of the funny things our kids say. These are just some of the gems Elie has come up with since December.

*I said no to something she asked for so Elie came up to me with her hands on her hips and said "Hmph!".... when I didn't react to that, I hear...."I saaaaiiiid, HMPH!"

*In the car driving around to look at Christmas lights one night, Tyler was grumpy and saying "boooooooo" to every house. Cameron commented that Tyler didn't have the Christmas spirit and then Elie responded, "Yeah, Ty has the Halloween spirit."

*One morning Ronny was letting me sleep in. Elie kept coming in to my room asking me to get up adding.... "mom, you're taking too long in bed."

*Elie was dancing to the song "shoo fly, don't bother me". I came over to dance with her and she told me, "Moooom, YOU don't bother ME - shoo!"

*After finally figuring out how to use the Bluetooth in my car I was so excited I told everyone I called. Then from the backseat Elie asks, "Mom, can I see your blue tooth?"

*I've made it one of my goals while staying home to teach the kids basic Spanish while they're young. So one morning Elie was asking me about the bones in her body. She would point to her ribs and ask what this bone is called, then her leg bone, pelvic bone, etc. She finally asked about her knee and I answered, "that's your knee bone, it's called the patella." She responded, "no, mom, I don't want to know the Spanish word for it."

*In the bathroom one morning shortly after the Winter Olympics she had me sit on the toilet (lid closed) to watch the 'lympic girl "do what she does." She skated around the floor in her socks twirling and when I would clap she would say, "that's what the 'lympic girl does." Even when she fell, "sometimes the 'lympic girl does that." Eventually she ran into the wall and hurt her head. She said, "that is NOT what the 'lympic girl does."