He is a Genius

Conversations at our house are sometimes a test of one's patience and "willingness to play along". The most obvious questions to Sean and I are tedious at times, though asked seriously by our kids. Example. We were sitting at the table the other night and Jacob asked me if I know George Washington's middle name (not obvious or tedious. Actually a pretty good questions). I said that I don't but we can look it up. So he asked me if I know George Washington's last name. (Here come the irritating questions). I said yes. It is Washington. So he asked if I know George Washington's first name. Again I replied yes, it is George. Then he asked if I know Abraham Lincoln's last name. Then first name. The game is getting old and I have repeatedly pointed out the answer is in the question. So he finally asks if I know Abraham Lincoln's middle name. I told him that is a good question, different from the others, but I don't know his middle name. Jackson pipes up. "I know it", he says. Eager for this answer, we ask him what it is. He looks at us like we are clueless parents and answers, "Ham. His middle name is Ham. Abra Ham Lincoln". Genius.

Hair cutting #2

I am sitting here wanting to blog but couldn't decide what to write about. Jackson to the rescue! He is standing in the bathroom next to me talking to me in his towel, just out of a shower. He is holding a disposable razor that is sitting on the counter.
He asks, "are these little knives in here?"
"Yes... basically", I reply.
"Do they cut me?", he asks.
"Yep", I say.
"And they pull my hair", he answers back.
Now, I am a little taken aback by this statement. It seems an odd thing to say while holding the razor. So I tell him that they don't pull, they just cut.
"No, Mom, they pull too", he replies emphatically. "It pulled my hair when I put it on my head".
Head whipping toward him, I notice some strands of hair on the ground. I decide to not panic, as this is not my first hair related incident (I will explain at the bottom for those of you not privy to the hair cutting story of June 2009). Jack walks over to me and asks me to dry his hair with the towel. As I am drying, more hair is falling to the ground. I pick one up and show it to him. And I explain, again, that razors cut us and they will cut our hair. Jackson looks at me, a little astonished and says, "ooohhh" in his best 'oops, I really messed up voice'.
The hair isn't completely dry yet. I guess we will see how it looks when it is. I suppose it is no worse for the wear. He is going for that cool dude look (i.e. long hair) and this will just give it personality.
My Jack, ever keeping me on my toes.

So if you know the hair cutting story from last summer, no need to read on. This is just to give those who don't some insight into life with my boys and the reason for this title.

The setting is one morning in early June just after school let out for the summer. Sean is scurrying around the house getting ready to leave for New Jersey on a business trip. I am trying to help him finish with things. He calls for the kids to come downstairs so he can kiss them goodbye. Sydney walks down the stairs. He glances at her and asks her why her hair is wet but continues with what he is doing. I stop and stare at her head. Her hair isn't wet. It is gone. Gone, gone, gone. I ask her what happened to her hair. Then her brothers appear, each with large chunks of hair missing from their heads also. Turns out that the boys decided to cut each others hair a little. Then they decided to cut off ALL of Sydney's hair. Sean did his best in the remaining few minutes he had, then rushed out the door. I freaked out, sobbing, wondering what I did to make my boys turn out so awful. I was certain they were ruined and headed for a life of crime. I had to trim some of Syd's hair to try to even it out. They left strange chunks in it that could be fixed with more cutting. The boys spent the rest of the day in their beds. Then they had to have their hair shaved off to try to fix the patches they put in themselves.

Time always provides new perspective...
They didn't hurt her. In fact, Sydney liked getting her hair. Unfortunately, they cut it so short that only now does she kind of need a haircut.
They didn't hurt anyone else. Hair always grows back (except for Sean's, sorry babe :) and it really isn't that big of a deal.
My boys aren't ruined. They are boys. They are wild and crazy and full of ideas that never occur to me. And they are fun and happy and full of love.
So add disposable razors to that long list of things that the boys have been "curious" about. And pray for me. I still have another one that is only 1 year old. The end is no where near!

It has been an interesting week. I am gearing up for my youngest (and final!) baby's birthday. He will be 1 year old. How quickly it has passed! We were all incredibly bummed that Sean was going to miss it on Sunday because of a trip to Canada. As luck would have it, I cured that little trip with a trip of my own. I fell down the steps to our garage. Actually I just fell down one step. And now my entire foot is swollen and purple. I have been to the doctor twice and no one is certain how bad the damage is or what it will take to heal it.