Another great game rule!

First you came up with the "Draw 10" card for UNO. Now last night you came up with another winner! Marbles in the Bingo roller to be used as WILDS!

You amaze me with your creativity & inventiveness! ... I'm also quite jealous!

Are you smarter than a very smart 2nd grader?

We were at Dr Toni's office, waiting for her to be ready to see you. You had a ritual of always having a small bottle of orange juice, with a straw!, at her office. You had taken just a tiny sip, so that you could have most of it while you were talking with Dr Toni. You told me that you had drank 10% of the juice; I disagreed that you had drank no more than 5%. HMPH! You got up, walked over to the 2 guys also waiting & asked them to point to the 10% point on the bottle. They were smiling, a little uncomfortable at the odd questions. They didn't really answer so you asked, "You do know fractions... don't you?" They laughed & said that they probably didn't know them as well as they should. HMPH!! Just then a very sharp, well-dressed man walked in from the offices. You dashed right over to him & asked him to point to the 10% mark on the bottle. He gamely took the bottle, pointed out the halfway point (That's 50%), then half of that (makes 25%) and so on. From the look on your face, it was clear that you didn't agree with his assessment of how much you had drank & you asked, "Do you even know your fractions?" The man laughed & said he probably didn't know them as well as you did. Then he asked your name. You said, "It's Jamie. J. A. M. I. E. ... The I is silent." He said, "It's very nice to meet you, Jamie, with the silent I. I'm Dr Wentworth." LOL. I hadn't recognized him, but he was the owner/main psychologist at the clinic.

Why didn't I think of that???

You constantly astound me with your creativity! I have been quite contentedly playing UNO since I was a kid, but you play it for just a couple of weeks & you come up with all these cool ways to make it even better! Last night's was the best, though! You were comfortable enough with the game, so I taught you how to keep score. Once you got the hang of that, a lightbulb went off & you decided to start making your own UNO cards to add to the deck... including a Draw 10! Now you can really bury me in points!

I love how you are constantly making things better & more interesting. I just love how your mind works!!!

How smart are my parents???

You have been giving me & your dad "IQ tests". These usually just involve us answering random questions about you or our household. I am at a slight advantage because Daddy is living in Grand Rapids during the week for work, so I know more of the weekday trivia that we are being quizzed on. A few days ago, you were quizzing us on game play in our home. Daddy & I were competing head-to-head. Most of the time we answered the same. But on this one question, we had slightly different answers - which made all the difference!

Q: Where do we play UNO?

Mom's A: Blue room - we always play there so I can watch the fireplace.

Dad's A: Living room. (Incorrect because we have never played UNO there)

Your response: Mama is correct. Daddy, you are incorrect. You are 1% stupid.

Oh Shhhhhhhh.........!!!!!

This incident happened about a year ago & will definitely go into both of your blogs! This is the first story I tell people when I want to demonstrate how ridiculously hilarious you both are.

Jamie & I were playing Trouble in the living room; Lola was somewhere else in the house playing. I managed to "pop" the right number in Trouble to win & Jamie shouted "Shit"! We'd been having trouble with him swearing so I told him that he'd have to go sit on the couch for a 5 minute timeout. He went, without really giving me any trouble at all about it. I just sat there on the floor waiting for the time to run out so we could play more, when Lola casually came in.

L: Why's Jamie on the couch?

M: He swore, so he had to have a timeout.

L: What did he say?

M: It doesn't matter.

L: Did he say "Shit"?

M: Lola!

L: Did he?

M: Yes. But don't you say it too!

L: Why does he say "Shit"?

M: Stop! He shouldn't say it & neither should you.

L: Doesn't he know "Shit" is a bad word?

M: Lola!

L: Why would he say "Shit", if he knows "Shit" is a bad word? He really shouldn't say "Shit", should he? I don't say "Shit" because I know that "Shit" is a bad word.....

At some point, I just sit there with my mouth agape, staring at my beloved 3 year old daughter who is streaming profanity. I don't even know what to do. It's hilarious, but I can't laugh. I finally glance over at Jamie to see him holding his fingers out like he is counting something; I figure he's just in his own world. Finally, Lola comes to an end for her "Shit" questions and before I can say anything, Jamie jumps up & says:

"Lola gets a 63 minute timeout, cause she said "Shit" 21 times."

What does it mean when your 6 year old, musically gifted son won't teach you "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"?

Tonight we were all playing with the lap harp you got for Christmas. You, as usual, were playing all sorts of songs by ear, but I wanted to try something easy. So I started with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star... but I couldn't get it at ALL! Worse than that, you wouldn't show me how to play it! Apparently, musical prodigies (you) have difficulty teaching people who are tone deaf (me!)!

Everytime I watch you play music, I am completely & utterly blown away. It is simply magnificent that you can hear music & recreate it almost effortlessly. I love you so much!

Fireplace House

Our house is very cold, lots of drafts. You have always curled up like a cat in front of the vent in the living room when the furnace turns on. You've been moving the princess castle out so that you could create your own little space to curl up in. Around Christmas, I moved the furniture around so you'd have your own little cubby to be in - and not have to move everything yourself, every day. You've added to it by putting couch cushions over the top of the opening, like a roof. You call it your "Fireplace House". You also wrote up a contract for me to sign saying that I understood that if I removed the cushions even one more time, then you would be sure that I would end up on Santa's Naughty List. :P

What I LOVE though, is that whenever we go out, you always tell people all about it. You are SO excited! And you always invite them, complete strangers!, over to see it. Considering you've known our address since you were 3 years old, I guess I should be concerned that strangers might actually start showing up on our doorstep to visit!