The Innocence of Children...

Lately, I've been getting a real kick out of the funny things that our kids say. I'm sure all kids have words that they use in place of words that should be used, if that makes sense.  This weekend, I heard our youngest say several things that just made me laugh out loud.  I'm not sure if others will find them amusing, but I thought they were worth sharing.

Today, with the extreme heat outside, our kids were quick to head for the pool.  As they raced for the water, Colton yelled, "Last one in is a rockin egg."  Of course, he has no experience with a rotten egg, so how would he put that together?

Yesterday, we were watching baseball on TV and a sharply hit ground ball got through the infielder. Colton immediately asked me, "Are they going to rule that a hit or an arrow?" Of course I know it's an error, but I like his word better.

Our other son, Buck, still thinks that when you are playing basketball and the ball leaves the court, it's "out of bounce." Makes sense to me.

Buck also used to call the Star Wars character, Dark Vader. I tried, many times, to explain that it's really Darth Vader. To which he would argue, "Mom, he's black so it's Dark Vader." I decided to let his peers teach him this one at school someday.

Our daughter, Sierra, said a couple of the funniest things I think I've ever heard.  She was little and she liked to draw. She would make a mistake and ask for an unraser.  When I tried to correct her and explain it was an eraser, she argued that rubbing it on the pencil made it un rase the mistake.  How could I argue?

She also broke her little arm at preschool one day when she was not quite three.  As I left the school and was driving her to the doctor, I was trying to prepare her for what was going to happen. I explained that it was going to be simple, they were just going to take a special picture of the bones in her arm. Immediately, she burst out crying and said, "I don't want them to take off my skin."  Obviously I should have explained the x-ray a little more specifically.

I don't have a memory good enough to remember many of Audra's little faux pas and I did not do what my mom suggested and write them down.  I do remember two things that really made me giggle.  Audra was an extremely early talker.  She spoke and understood much vocabulary at a very early age. One day, when she was about a year and a half old, we were at the mall. We stopped to look at something and she asked a hundred, well-enunciated questions. A lady standing nearby came over and told her that she was a, "Very smart cookie." The nice lady walked away and Audra began to cry. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "I'm a girl, not a cookie."

The other one I remember that gave me a laugh was when she lost her first tooth.  She got her teeth early and they came out early, too.  At four years old, her first little tooth fell out.  The first thing that I remember her saying was, "I hope it's not my sweet tooth." 

Thank goodness for the innocence of children.  I've learned, as they've grown, not to be quick to correct them. Far too soon the world sets them straight and I much prefer to hear their own unique voices.