On Behaviour

Me: "Max! Please listen to me! Why do I have to ask you to do the same thing 5 times before you actually pay attention?"

Max: "Well, because, Mommy, I'm trying my best, I really am, but sometimes I can't help it and I have bad behaviour"

Me: "Please try to listen for the rest of this evening Max; Mommy gets frustrated repeating so much"

Max: "Ok Mommy, no more bad behaviour tonight"

On Language

Me: "Max, we went to visit two schools for you this morning for next year"
Max: "Oh really?"
Me: "Yes. One is English and one is French. Do you know if you would prefer to go to school in English or French next year?"
Max (after taking a good minute to think about it): "I would like to go to English school"
Me: "Oh really? English? Ok honey, thank you for telling me"
Max: "English is what we are speaking now, right?"
Me: "Yes Max, we are speaking English right now"

On Being a Chocoholic

Max has inherited my love of chocolate, an addiction we both come by naturally as I inherited it from my mother and she from hers, and so on, so forth. A few nights ago, I gave him a chocolate ball for dessert.

Max: "Mommy, what can I have for dessert tonight?"
Me: "One of the chocolates from Julia's?"
Max: "Oh yes, I like those" (helping himself to one and eating it)

A few minutes later, Max wanders into the kitchen, where I am cleaning up:

Max: "Mommy, you know, I was eating that chocolate, I had it in my mouth, and I just kept thinking to myself 'I cannot believe this is mild chocolate'"
Me (laughing): "As opposed to what Max??"
Max: " I don't know Mommy, I was just thinking about that"

On Being Sick

Like so many families, the stomach flu has been making its way around our little family. Max was the first to get it (on New Year's Eve!) followed by Pat and now, last night, me.

Me: "Max, Mommy isn't feeling very well, can you please get out of the bath now?"
Max: " Mommy are you going to throw up? If you throw up, you cannot go to yoga"
Me: 'That's true Max; I probably won't go to my yoga class tonight anyway"
Max: "If you throw up now, it will be all over me!"
Me: "Max, I'll make sure not to throw up all over you, I promise"

Super Maxim

Max and Brooklyn were given an indoor tent and tunnel for Christmas. They really like to play in it in the basement.

Max: "Come on Brooklyn, let's go on an adventure!"

Brooklyn: Grabs essentials, such as bear and blanket

Max (pretending to drive a spaceship): "Ok Brooklyn, come on, we're taking off on our adventure"

On Being Dark

Max (watching the water drain out of his bath): "Mommy, do you know where the water goes?"

Me: "Not really- ask daddy"

Max: "No, I already know! It goes down the drain and into a pipe and then down another drain"

Me: "And then where does it go?"

Max: "These men come and pick the water up in dump trucks in the middle night, but we aren't supposed to see them, because if we do, they'll kill us!"

Me: "Max! No one is going to kill us!"

(This, after he had turned a plastic bird he was playing with upside down on the edge of the bath and declared it was dead. When asked why, he said because it had gone into the water, which, while dark for a 4 year old, is actually quite logical)

Oh the Vocab and Manners

Me: "Max, Daddy has a surprise for you tomorrow"

Max: "Oh, that mischievous Daddy!"

Then later, as we were going downstairs

Max (moving over to let me go by): "After you Mommy"

Proud Big Brother

Max often likes to act like a father figure to Brooklyn; he really enjoys feeling older than her and, I believe, this comes moslty from a place of wanting to take care of her (and a little bit from a place of wanting to boss her around!)

Last night, after their bath, the kids sat down at their Ikea table to have their yogurts. Brooklyn has been feeding herself for a long time now (and will have it no other way) but yogurt, and yogurt containers, pose an obvisouly messy problem at times.

Brooklyn (eating her yogurt "toute seule" like a big girl at the table)
Max (said in proud big brother voice): "Look Mommy, she's doing really well with her yogurt"
Me (laughing): "Yes she is Max; she's using her spoon her really well and not droping any"
Max: "Good girl Brooklyn!"

As a funny aside about second children being so unbelievably independant; Brooklyn takes her bib off as soon as she is done eating and went right to the drawer where I keep her bibs last night and helped herself to a new bib as soon as I said the word "yogurt". She has also taken to opening the drawer where I keep the place mats, takign one out, climbing onto the table bench and helping to set the table! She's one and a half!

I've done something right

Max and Brooklyn have fun sponges for the bath; Brooklyn's is a Mini Mouse and Max's is a Spider-Man. Max was having the two of them play together:

Max: "Mommy they were play fighting together and Spider-Man thought he would win because he's the guy and he's stronger but he was wrong and she won!"

On Creative Excuses

When it came time to clean up tonight:

Max: "I'm too tired Mommy, look, I have scars under my eyes"

Me: "Do you mean circles under your eyes Max?"

Max: "Yes, look Mommy, I'm so tired I have circles under my eyes"

Oh Max

This was one of those moments where I realized that Max obviously listens to my phone conversations.

Me (on the phone to Max): "Good morning Max. How has your morning been?"
Max: "I can't hear you"
Me: 'Max, put the phone up to your ear"
Max: "I did (some movement) ok, I can hear you better now"
Me: "So how has your morning been?"
Max: "Well, I've had my breakfast"
Me: "Good. Are you happy to be going to Grandmaman and Granpapa's?"
Max: "Yes. Did your friend drive you to work this morning?"
Me: "No, I took the metro"
Max: "Oh ok...well...so...I'm going to let you go now Mommy. I love you, bye!"
Me (laughing): "Ok Max, buy love, have a nice day"