Quotes from the Kids

Erika, age 12, December 31, 2009

"I'm never going to wear makeup again."

We'll see how long that lasts.

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Erika: I can't find my glasses! I've looked everywhere!
Us: Let us help.
Hours later with no success.....
Girls: Mom! Dad! Can we watch a movie?
Mom and Dad: Yes.
Five minutes later...
Girls: WE CAN'T GET THE TAPE IN! IT'S JAMMED!
Dad (fiddling with it for five minutes): I don't know what's wrong with this thing. The tape won't go in.
Five minutes later....
Daddy: ERRRRRRRIKA......what are your glasses doing INSIDE THE VCR????
Erika: I don't know! I don't know! I didn't put them there!
Daddy: Did you put them there Alex?
Alexandra: No.
Ten minutes later.....
Alexandra: Okay. Yes. I did put them there. I wanted to play at trick on Erika. (ages 10 and 11)
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Me: I have a lot of papers to grade. I don't know how I am ever going to get them done.

Alexandra (age 9): My teacher has to grade lots of papers. She has forty!

Me: Teachers have to do so much work! I don't know where they get the energy."

Alexandra: "They get it from food when they eat!"

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The geese had bands around their legs. "Oh!" I said, pointing to one male. "He has a band around his leg. Do you know what that means?" I asked the girls.


"Yes," said Erika, nine at the time. "That's for social security." (Erika, age 9)

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Daddy was holding Alexandra's stuffed bunny rabbit, and she wanted it back. Daddy pouted and held it close to his chest, pretending he didn't want to give it up. "Don't worry, Daddy," she said. "You have ME!" (age 7 at the time)

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Erika, age nine at the time: "Some people say that butterflies are the souls of people."
What a lovely thought! (Erika, age 9)

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"Alexandra, take chill pill," I said.

"A chill pill? Is that like amoxicillin?"
(age 8)

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After watching the movie and listening to music from Phantom of the Opera: "The Phantom should watch Hunchback of Notre Dame. That would make him feel better. Quasimotto looked ugly, too, but his friends loved him and helped him and he didn't hate anyone. "

They might not have said this had they read the original book, but.....they have the right idea, don't they? (ages 9 and 10)

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Erika shouting at the bus stop: "Bye Mom! Love you! Don't let Shiba eat cat puke today!"

I'm going to get her for that. (age 10)

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Erika to her teacher at the teacher's conference: "Ms. M. You have bed head!"

After giving Erika my "look" : "It's okay. Sometimes I have bedhead too."

We're still working on those social skills. (age 10)

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Erika (age 10): "I know how you met Daddy."
Mom: "How?"
Erika: "On e-Harmony.com"

Pause. Mom: (after fits of laughter, because it's just not the same world it used to be) "Well, you're kind of right. Except it was Yahoo Personals."

Kind of makes me wonder how THEY will meet their future loves.

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At three years old, Erika was accustomed to a baby gate across her door, giving her time to play quietly before she took a nap in her toddler bed.

One day, I decided to see if she would nap without the gate.

"Mommy!" I heard, as I walked down the hall.

"What honey?"

"I can't sleep without my nap-time cage!"

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Something to picture:

Alexandra, age ten, riding on her bike, holding a dead beaver by its tail.

"I wanted to bring it home to bury it."

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Erika, age 12, talking to Sallie, the dog, who apparently felt her be-hind wasn't as clean as it could be: "Sallie--stop butt surfing!"

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Alexandra, age 11, upon seeing a wig: "That thing freaks me out. I'M KEEPING AN EYE ON YOU, WIG!"

Going to the Woods to Live Deliberately

There are few things that give me so much pleasure as being in the woods.

Of course, there are bugs and pollen and sneezes, but these natural annoyances are parts and parcels of the forest and of me. I learned to live with these and love the woods at an early age, and some parts of the personality, thank goodness, never change.

I took a side trail in the park this morning, and decided to sit on a small mound of grass by the stream, one of my children's already used notebooks on my lap, sunglasses and fanny pack tossed aside for the moment. A thick limb overhung the stream, ric-rac reflections from the water casting images on bark, bright light on coarse brown, nothing but the banter of the birds and this light soothing my senses. I wonder if birds can see reflections.

A tiny fish surprised me, jumping out of the shallow water, the splash emanating ripples and quiet watery sounds, audio-visual treats from someone like me who is often overwhelmed in a busy audio-visual world. You see, I have ADD, and I often feel like a sensory sponge. But a sponge can hold only so much liquid. I tend to absorb most of what is around me, distracted by the external, and all at the same time. I come to the woods for a bit of a break. And in the woods, I get to think and write in ways I cannot at home.

I was soon distracted not by one but by three families of Canadian Geese gliding over the thin water, behind each adult, at least four goslings. They stopped at the base of a narrow, damp ribbon of a trail, one adult taking the lead climbing what must have been a steep challenge for the waddling goslings that followed. That was the pattern: adult, goslings, adult goslings, adult, goslings, a combined group of close to twenty.

Having made it to the top, they began to feed, and I thought about joining their family. This is a park, and they live in peace. The worms are plentiful and the people on this remote trail, sparse. I was the only one there, and I wondered who else had used the trail. It was a bit overrun and off the beaten path, just like I love a trail to be.

It is cool in the woods when the air is warm, and it is alive when our society feels dead. How I would love to be camping right now, more hours in the woods, living alongside birds.

Soon, I promise myself. We will take a camping trip soon.