Friction

Tonight at dinner, John taught me all about friction. He said "You know gravity holds us down. Friction stops us from sliding all over the place. Without gravity we would be flying. But friction is really important. Imagine a room that has carpet on one side and no carpet on the other. The carpet makes friction so we don't fall. But we can slide on the floor with no carpet. Cause there's no friction. See easy peasy!"

Harmonica

Friday morning, John came into the bathroom while Daddy and I were getting ready for work. He obviously just woke up and was covering his eyes because the light was so bright. He didn't even say good morning. He simply said "Where's my harmonica?" Yup, first thing in the morning he was worried about his harmonica. I told him that it was in the house somewhere and we could find it later. I asked him why he needed it now. He said "I just want to play music for everyone. It would be nice to play music now. And now I'm never going to find my harmonica."  I thought I knew where it was and I went to look for it. I came back empty handed and that didn't make him happy. He said "Did you look everywhere? I don't think you did. Now I'm never going to play music again!"  We distracted him and he hasn't brought up the harmonica since then. I wonder what he was dreaming about to make him ask about his harmonica first thing. 

Red Light

Last night, I picked up Gillian from school.  In the car, she told me about her day.  We were stopped at a traffic light and the people turning left were given a green arrow.  Gillian said "Red means stop!"  And from behind me, I could hear the crash of metal on metal.  It sounded like they thought we had the green and they went for it.  As we went through the light, I was able to confirm that two cars behind me got into a car accident.  Gillian was completely unaware of what was going on around her.  And she continued to tell me "Red means stop.  Yellow means go slow.  And green means go faster!"  Not sure where she got that one but I told Daddy that he gets to teach her how to drive when she is old enough.   

The Spider

I picked up the kids tonight from school.  As we were leaving John's school, John said "There's a spider in here."  It was pretty dark in the car, so I said "Are you sure?"  John said "Yea.  I can see it.  Mom!  Get it out of here!"  I was driving, and told him "I can't get it out now."  I opened his window to try to help the spider go outside.  John was very scared, and kept saying, "It's coming closer."  Gillian said "Oh I see him.  Him's so cute!  Aww he doesn't want to go outside.  He's cold.  Close the window!"  John got mad and said "No Gill!  I'm afraid of him.  I don't want him in here."  Gillian giggled and said "I not afraid.  Him is cute!"  John now even more mad at Gillian, said "Everyone is afraid of something!  I'm afraid of spiders."  Gillian said "Not me! I not afraid of nothing!"  John said, "Everyone in the whole world is afraid of something.  Even Mom and Dad!  But sometimes you have to face your fear.  Cause if you don't then it will control your life!" 

How was your day?

Tonight at dinner, we asked the kids about their days.  Gillian said "I play with Nicholas and Sophia.  I sit in timeout chair."  I asked her why she had to go to timeout.  She said "I didn't stay on my mat at naptime."  At least she is honest. 

We asked John the same question.  He needed a little more prodding and prompting in order to get some info out of him.  I said "Did you have your picture taken today?"  He said "Yea.  But I didn't bring it home."  I asked "Did you get to play outside today or inside today at recess?"  John said "Inside."  I am loving these short answers.  Now I ask him, "Did you learn any friends names today?"  "John said "There really wasn't time.  I did try but that boy seemed really busy."  I decided to change the subject,  "Did you take a picture with your whole class?"  "Yea, but I didn't bring that one home either."  Daddy completely changed the subject, he asked "Name one place that you would love to visit."  John at first said "The Statue of Deliveries."  He paused and then said "The Statute of Liverity.  But that's far away."  Daddy explained that the statue isn't far from home and that maybe one day we could go visit it.     

Oh John

Today we were running errands with the kids.  In the car, I told the kids that they needed to behave at while we were shopping or there would be no shows when we got home.  John said "Well I mostly cleaned the basement."  When he said "mostly" he put his hands in the air and wiggled his fingers.  I really didn't think much of it.  But later tonight, he said something very similar and again raised his hands and wiggled his fingers.  Daddy and I realized that John was doing air quotes.  The best part is that he was actually using them appropriately. 

John doing air quotes

After dinner tonight, John read Daddy a few books (we read every night).  When John was done, Daddy asked him "Do you want to take shower now or later."  John said "Let's do it now.  I want to be efficient!"

car conversations

I got to pick up the kids from school yesterday.  John and I had some interesting conversations in the car. 

As we drove down Swimming River Road towards Lincroft to pick up Gillian, John said "Did we just past Swimming River?"  I said yes.  He said "Did you see if there was dirt in the water?  Cause you know what happens when there is dirt in the water."  I said, "No what happens when there is dirt in the water?"  He said "People get sick!  You can't drink dirty water!"  I said "John, there is a water treatment plant right next to the river and it treats the water and makes it so that people can drink it."  John said "Whew!"

Next we were driving behind a cement mixer.  I said to John, "Look in front of us, do you know what that is?"  He didn't know.  I said "It's a cement mixer."  He said "Oh no!  Are we behind it?  We gotta watch out, because we could get cemented.  The cement would just cemented us in place.  And then we would be stuck."