Penny, Nickel, Dime, Quarter, Euro

The boys each have their own piggy bank.  Actually, they have Big Belly Banks to be exac...WAIT!  I am just now realizing I've never gotten Alastair a Big Belly Bank.  Not sure how I messed that one up.  After discovering them at a craft fair years ago, I've gotten one for almost every niece and nephew of ours, plus our two older boys, but somehow I left Alastair out.  Putting that on his Christmas list right now....sorry, Al.  Anyway, these banks have been a big hit - they're a fun way to learn to save.  We give them coins every now and then to "feed" to their banks and occasionally head to the bank to put them in their accounts.

Just a few weeks ago Loic found a change purse with a bunch of coins inside and was sure he'd hit the jackpot.  He asked if he could put them in his bank, but I took one look and realized they were not just any old coins.  "This isn't American money," I told him, "You can't spend it here."  He'd stumbled upon our stash of foreign coins we've collected from Bill's business trips & our time living in Europe.  He was disappointed, but he & Laurence kept busy for a little while checking out the differences between the foreign money and our own American coins.

Fast forward about 2 weeks and Loic & Laurence are in the basement playing with Legos when they come upstairs, pleased as punch that they'd found two coins (American ones this time).  "Can these be allowance?" Laurence asked.  I was taken aback for a moment, because we've never talked about allowance, but figured he read about it in a book or something, so I just replied, "Well, you can put them in your banks!"  Then he said, "They're quarters, but....this one's not like a normal quarter.  It doesn't have an eagle on the back."  I said, "Oh, it must be a state quarter - each state has it's own design.  Some people collect them to try to get ever state."  "Oh," he said rather flatly; strange from my boy who normally takes delight in anything that has anything to do with geography.  "Which state is it from?" I ask.  He looks at it closely and says, still with little emotion in his voice, "Rhode Island."  "Hey, neat!  That's where Uncle John and Aunt Aud--" "But mom," he interrupts, "Can we spend it in Wisconsin?"

National, State & Local Level

This morning we were running some last minute errands before school starts and I decided to take the boys to the China Buffet for lunch (please don't tell my friends at the Panda House - they'd think I'm a traitor).  I don't normally like Chinese buffets, but this was pretty decent (not as good as the Panda House, though) and really cheap - all four of us ate for under $13!  Anyway, I was really cherishing our lunch together, realizing that soon our schedule will be completely different with school starting - Laurence will be gone all day and most days lunch will be a rush in order to get Loic on the bus at noon for afternoon 4K.

Anyway, we covered some important topics, such as why dragons aren't considered scary & evil in China, why paper lanterns aren't the same thing as balloons, how the Egg Drop Soup isn't as good as the soup at the Panda House, how some chicken wings actually look like little chicken legs, etc.  It was all very enjoyable until...

Laurence decided it was time to discuss politics.  And had questions about politics.  To know me is to know this is a problem.  Not only do I not particularly like discussing politics, but I am not very knowledgeable on this topic.  Sad that a few questions from my almost 2nd-grader could actually make me a bit nervous.  He started it with, "Does Wisconsin have a government?"  Tempted to just say "no," thinking I probably wouldn't have been far off just seemed wrong, so I said, "Yes, each state has a governor, senators, State Representatives, and other officials that have a say in both state and national issues."  Then he asked who decides stuff about Green Bay, and I went on to explain that we have a local government that includes people elected to office, like our mayor.  "Maybe you've heard his name - Jim Schmitt," I said.  "Oh, yes!  Jim Schmitt.  Of course I know who he is.  That must be where that song comes from."  Now I'm puzzled..."what song is that?"  His reply was confident, "John Jacob Jimbleheimer Schmitt -- 'Jim' must just be his nickname."

Maybe politics aren't so scary after all.

Biological Family Secret

We just returned home on Tuesday from nearly two weeks visiting family on both my side & Bill's side.  This annual trip is always jam-packed, and the kids love being surrounded by grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, 2nd cousins, 3rd cousins, probably even cousins once or twice removed and maybe some that have been reattached.  Laurence seems to have the relationships all figured out - well, until we get beyond the first cousins, but honestly I get a little lost beyond that point, too.

I'm not sure where it has come from, but since we've been home Laurence has been asking questions about "step" relatives.  He doesn't have any, but he must have heard this term from someone over the past couple of weeks.  Just today he was asking how a kid gets step-grandparents.  He probably figures having four grandparents is great, why not get some more?  Anyway, I started by explaining about step-parents and he said, "Also when someone has a child and can't take care of them, if someone else adopts them then they're their step-parents, right?"  I told him adoption was something different entirely, and that the people that adopt a child are, in fact, that child's parents.  Then he concluded that whoever gives the child up for adoption must become the step-parent.  "No," I told him, "they're also the child's parents, sometimes called 'biological parents.'"  "Biological parents?" he repeated.  "What does that mean?"  (Oops, I suddenly feared I had ventured into territory for which I was not prepared.)  "Well," I began, "a biological mother means the person who had the baby in her tummy."  I guess this clicked for him, because he said, "Oh! I get it - you mean the umbilical cord.  That's where the word 'biological' comes from, so that makes sense."   Hmmm, ok.  Sounds good enough to me.  Thankfully, we didn't get into any of the nitty gritty, so I can definitely get on board with that definition.   We ended the conversation by talking about family being important, no matter what the relationship...biological, step, umbilical cord, once removed...

Gender Predictor

This is old news by now, but I have three boys.  Most of you have probably known this for a while.  I've known this for 1 year, 5 months, and 21 days.  As strange as it is for me to think that I'm a mom at all sometimes, I also know most of the time that this is how things were supposed to be.  It feels completely right.  What I didn't know until today is that if we were to have a 4th child (which we won't) it would be a girl.  I can say this with certainty.  You see, it went something (exactly) like this...

Laurence:  I'm glad we have 3 boys.  I don't think we need any more babies in this family.  

Me:  Well, that's a good thing, because we won't be having any more babies.  

Laurence:  If you did have another baby, it would be a girl.  

Me:  Oh?  That's what you thought with Alastair, too, but he's a boy.

Laurence:  But the 4th baby is always a girl.  

Me:  Really?  How do you know that?

Laurence:  The plumber.  

Me:  What?  What plumber?

Laurence:  Remember that plumber that was here who had six kids?  He told you you should have another baby.  (For the record, it was a Heating & Cooling Technician, and it was last summer that he was here...)

Me:  Oh, yes, I do remember him telling me that, but---

Laurence:  AND he said, "The 4th one's always a charm!"  So the 4th baby is always a girl.  Girls are charms, not boys.

So there you have it.  

What's a Bike Lock?

I was going to call this post "Thou Shalt Not Steal." Then I thought perhaps I'd be clever and name it using the corresponding number of the commandment in the Bible, but I looked it up and was surprised to find there is debate on the numbers among religious groups - is it 7, or is it 8? And I also found out on Wikipedia (yeah, I know...) that "steal" has been interpreted by some to mean "steal people." Hmm, this I never knew. For what it matters, I have always believed and practiced this to mean "steal anything." Anyway, I have no problem with people interpreting things differently, believing different things, and worrying about numbers and stuff like that, but what it boils down to is that people should just be good. Kids start out so good. As they grow & learn it's up to us to make sure they learn right from wrong, and keep being good...which to me is a pretty scary thing. Now & then I have those moments when I realize I'm doing sort of alright in this regard, and today I had one.

Loic was thrilled this morning to see that the bike trailer is now hooked onto my bike, and he's anxious to go for a ride. As much as he loves to ride his trike, riding together - he on his trike, me on my bike - is tough; if I rode any slower I'd fall off. So, I've been pumping him up to ride in the trailer with Alastair now that he's old enough, so we can venture a little further than around the block and I can actually get a little bit of exercise. I'd already told him we needed to go to the grocery store this morning, so he immediately came up with the perfect plan -- "Mom, let's take the bike & trailer to the grocery store!" I told him that would be fun, but I don't have a bike lock. "What's a bike lock?" he asked. I explained that there's a special place to park bikes and that we can't lock them like we do the car, so we need a special lock to hook them to the bike rack. Then he looks at me quizzically and says, "But mom, any person would be able to see that it's not their bike & trailer, so they wouldn't take it."

Stay good, Loic. Stay so good.

Where in the World?

A few months back Spelling Bees were the big thing in our house, but lately we've moved on to Geography Bees. From Laurence, I must hear 15 times a day, "Mom, ask me questions about where stuff is in the world!" I've actually run out of questions to challenge him, and recently bought a couple of board games that we can play together. I believe I'm learning more than he is.

Clearly Loic has been paying attention and is learning right along with us (me). Want proof? This morning we were eating breakfast and Laurence wanted some strawberries, so he opened the fridge to pull out a quart and said, "Woah! There are 3 containers of strawberries in here!" (We go thru lots of fruit.) Then he says, "Why didn't you just buy one big container - the ones you get at Sam's Club?" I explained that I hadn't been to Sam's recently and he asked why. "Well," I said, "I haven't been over that way in while; it's on the other side of town, and to go just for strawberries seems kind of silly." Then Loic says, "Oh! Then Sam's Club is near China! That's on the other side, too."

Riddled with Riddles

Loic has started telling riddles this week. Or at least what he thinks are riddles. Webster defines a riddle as: a mystifying, misleading, or puzzling question posed as a problem to be solved or guessed. Loic's riddles are in no way misleading and leave nothing to the imagination, because his imagination does all the work. Because I know you want them, here are some examples...

What's in the shape of a circle and hangs from the ceiling and turns around and around and around and around and has four brown things sticking out of it with a light hanging from it? (All of this while staring intently at none other than...the ceiling fan in our kitchen, of course!)

What is brown and says, "hee-haw" and has four legs? (I feel silly even giving the answer here, but you never know....a donkey!)

What is white and has water in it and green rocks and a plant and 2 fish swimming around in it? (Love this one in particular because he uses "white" instead of clear. So, there's a big hint, in case you were stumped. Yep, the fishbowl!)

What is tall and has 2 legs, 2 arms, big hands, long, yellow hair, black glasses & is wearing a shirt with circles on it? (This one might be a little more difficult for you readers because most of you didn't see what I was wearing yesterday, but it's me! I know, I know - tall & big hands?! Remember, Loic is 3 and much shorter than me...for now.)

And finally, one that is a bit puzzling....What is pointing up and hot and has broken pieces of the world melting in a big hole? (Getting back to Webster, I'm pretty sure this is how he defined a "volcano." And if not, he should have.)