Recently in Family Members Category

We took my kids (Karenna and Jude) plus my cousin's two girls to the circus.  The older girl liked the animal acts.  The younger one liked the female acrobats.  There was also a man who pretended the real acrobats were not there and clowned around on the trampoline until he finally did some fancy flips.  Here are my observations:

1. Once Jude is more of a handful than the three girls combined (and one of them is still in diapers).
2. For example, he took off his shirt outside in the rain and ran around in the parking lot.
3. Things you have to say at dinner with kids 5 & under include: "We don't show each other our underpants at the dinner table."
4. Karenna is getting good at tricking people.
5. Leave it to her dad to teach her this.  When they went to pick up a pizza and the girls wanted soda, he told Karenna's cousin. "No we have water at home. We get it out of the toilet."  Karenna, totally serious, said, "Yeah, we do."
6. She has equally mastered detecting when someone is tricking her.  "That guy on the trampoline was really an acrobat," she told us later.

On my birthday, I tricked my daughter. It went like this...

Me: Who's your favorite parent?
Karenna: I can't pick between you and Daddy.
Me: Okay, who's your favorite old lady?
Karenna: You... and Judoo and Grammy Jen and... what's her name again... oh...
Me: Nana!

(I may be old, but at least I remember Nana. It's only been since January.  She acts like it's been a decade or something. Sheesh! Kids.)

A continuation from the February 14th post at the same family restaurant...

My Nephew Luke (poking the lemon that was floating in his water): Hey, lemons don't swim!

Karenna (upon the mention me going to her of parent-teacher conferences): Why did you and my teacher have to talk about me so much? Why don't you talk about something else?

When my parents call, you never know what kind of silliness will ensue.  Take the call that came today as Chris was in the shower and the kids watched The Lord of the Rings:

Karenna: Hi Pop-Pop.  We're watching Lord of the Rings.  Frodo's in it and some elves, and some wizards.
Pop-Pop: Who else is in that movie?
Jude: And there are Orcs and a Balrog!
Pop-Pop: Who's the naked guy?
Karenna: Daddy.
Pop-Pop (laughing): No.  I mean the one who wants to steal the ring.

I've posted many of this week's small parts after the fact.  Like post-dated checks.  If you are reading them after-the-fact, you'd never know, but if you are a devoted Small Parts reader, I thought I owed you an explanation.

Chris's grandfather "Pap Kauffman" passed away on Monday, November 3, 2008.  Chris was very close to his grandfather, and his passing has affected him greatly this week.

When the time came to let the kids know, Chris was about to tell them, but he broke down, and the words could not come.  He asked me to tell them.

Karenna, understanding the seriousness of the sad news and aware of its impact on her dad, walked over and began to console him, "Daddy, it's okay."

She continued, "It's not Pap's fault... it was his heart's."

We will miss you, Pap.

So the following is the second half of our conversation about Star Wars and George Lucas...

Jude: Who is George Lucas?
Me: He makes the Star Wars movies?
Jude: Does he make the action figures?
Me: No. But the toy people aren't allowed to make anything Star Wars unless he says they're allowed.
Jude: Is George Lucas a boy or a girl? (Jude's preoccupied with gender.)
Me: He's a boy.
Karenna: All Georges are boys.
Me: What about George Elliot? She took the name George so boys would read her books.
Karenna: Most Georges are boys.
Me: There's also a Boy George (then, realizing I had inadvertently left myself open to another YouTube can of worms), but he's another story.
Jude (pointing to his picture on the wall): Who is that? Is that a boy or a girl?
Me: That is Boy Jude.