Arthur's Naive Question

One day I was driving with Arthur, another car all of sudden jumped in front of me. I quickly pressed brake and said "Shoot".

Arthur must be opening his eyes big at the back. He exclaimed, "Mama, you just said 'Shoot'". I said to him, "Sorry, Arthur. Mama was not supposed to say that." Arthur was still amazed, "Mama, your car has shooting power??"

(No. Arthur.  Mama's car doesn't have shooting power.  It is not a transformer either.)
(For some reason, the two kids keep on thinking Papa's truck is a hot wheel and it runs faster than my van.)

Minglun's Happy Times and Sad Times

Minglun's answer to a school assignment -

Happy times: 1. When I go asleep.

2. When my dad snores like a baby.

3. When my little brother does NOT play with me.

4. When I go to store with my mom.

Sad times: 1. When my brother Arthur screams at me.

2. When I cannot go to grandma's house.

3. When I get timeout in school.

4. When I cannot watch Star Wars.

A Serious Talk with Arthur

Arthur is almost three and half now, but he can still get into toddler mood sometimes and make some big noise in the house, such as the roars, "DON'T TOUCH MY BIKE." "This is MY toy!"

Last Saturday morning, after he screamed at Minglun, I found myself start talking to him like this, "Arthur, you have to try to control your temper." At the back of my mind, I was thinking, "Does he know the word control or what it means?" Arthur looked at me quite unhappily and said, "I cannot, because I am too little."

Since he answered, I felt that I need to keep the conversation, "You need to change." Arthur looked even unhappier, and said, "I don't want to."

Minglun had been listening carefully since our conversation started, and now he threw himself to the couch and hit his head against it repeatedly in frustration, "Arthur is never going to change. Arthur is never going to change."

Where does Chocolate Milk Come From?

"From what type of cows?" - questioned by Minglun.

Arthur and Wrinkles

This summer, we played a lot in water. Minglun is five and half and Arthur is three and half and I finally can take both of them to the pool all by myself. The only difficult part was to get them out from the pool. Arthur is the more difficult one and he wouldn't listen sometimes. I tried different things and the one worked really well was telling Arthur that he got many wrinkles on his hands and he cannot stay in water any longer. Arthur will talk in his baby voice, slowly but clearly, "Oh my gosh. I got so many wrinkles. Hurry, hurry, we have to go wash my wrinkles away."

I think I played this too much. Then later Arthur wouldn't like to go to the pool any more. He would say, "I do not want to go swimming because I will get wrinkles." And I found myself talking to him, "Arthur, you are only three years old. You don't need to worry about WRINKLES..." So we still go to the pool but now I have to be careful not to mention wrinkles to Arthur any more.

Henry and Gordon

At bedtime, Minglun and Arthur were reading a new book with Mama, "Henry and the Elephant" fromThomas and friends series. Both boys are quite into the stories about Thomas and his friends. Especially Arthur, who has a set of little trains. Each of the trains has their name at the bottom. Arthur asked Mama before for each train's name and he requires other people to remember them too. Such as, if he asks his Grandma, "Grandma, can you bring Percy to me?" and if Grandma doesn't know who is Percy, Arthur will not be very happy.

Anyway, they started reading the book. Minglun was the one that was doing the reading because he was at the age of a beginner reader. The first page is "Thomas left to run the Branch lines. Gordon and Henry missed Thomas." Minglun couldn't recognize "Gordon" and asked Mama for help. Mama tried to give him a hint, "Minglun, this is the name of a train. It starts with a G. Look, what train is this one?" At the same time, Mama was pointing to a blue train on the book. Arthur said casually, "That's Gordon!" Mama said, "That's right. See, Arthur knows that train's name. It is Gordon."

Minglun continued, "Gordon and ...". He didn't know how to read "Henry" now. Mama helped again, "Now it is another train's name and it starts with an H. See who is this?" She pointed to a green train in the book. Arthur exclaimed, "It is Henry!" Mama said, "Right. Minglun, see, even Arthur knows the trains' names. Gordon and Henry." Minglun was feeling unhappy and refused to continue to read the book.

It was late alreay and Mama sent them to bed. After turning off the light, Minglun asked Mama, "Mama, can you tell Arthur that he still doesn't know every single train's name." After comforting Minglun and assuring him not to worry about those trains, Mama went to Arthur's room. Arthur was holding his blue train Thomas in bed. Arthur was still feeling so proud and hadn't fallen asleep yet. He was talking to himself, "This is Thomas, and this is Gordon and that is Henry. And that's it."

When I grow up - by Minglun

At around four years old, Minglun likes to say, "When I grow up, I am going to put on my belt, take my backpack, drive papa's truck, and I am going far away." Every time I heard this, I would ask him, "Minglun, where would you be going?" Minglun thought a while, and then said, "I am going to Grandpa's house." Then I felt that my heart go back to its place because his grandpa's house is very close to us.

At around five years old, Minglun likes to say, "When I grow up" or "When I turn 17, I am going to drive papa's truck and pick up Arthur from his school. I am going to put Arthur to his car seat and help him to put seat belt on, then I am going to take him home." Sometimes I have to remind him that when he turns 17, Arthur will be 15 already will not be needing a car seat. My heart just turns very soft when he says that and I will always give him a lot of hugs and kisses.