Heard in the Trenches III (the mini-est monkey version)

Aiden's prayer over breakfast:

"Heavenly Father, Thank you for this food. And we will get big and strong. And be like superheroes. And this is a new day of our lives. . . "

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Aiden has a very active imagination. In fact, he's invented an alternate reality, with a new house and family~ he calls this his "House Dream" because it started as a dream. I often hear tales of what his other mom lets him do ("My other mom says I can have all the treats for dinner." "My mom says I can stay up tonight." "My mom says I can drive the car to the store." etc.). It makes for very odd conversations, I tell ya. The other day he was telling me this:

Aiden: "Mom, did you know my mom said I can marry you when I'm a dad?"

Me: (smiling) "No, really?"

Aiden: "Yeah, and I love to marry girls!"
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Aiden has been very fascinated with kissing and getting married lately. He thinks Hannah Montana is beautiful and frequently (much to his sister's distress) tries to kiss Kolbi's posters of said pop star. He went to my friends house one day and her daughter (who is a year older than him) dressed up in her fancy dress-up clothes then asked him to dance with her. This made quite an impression on him and he's been somewhat smitten ever since. One Sunday they passed love notes (pictures of them dancing together) back and forth. He hung them on his wall the moment he got home. He's been making big plans ever since.

This conversation was relayed to me by this friend who was watching Aiden for me again. Aiden announces, "Olivia, I'm going to marry you when I'm big as a dad. Then I'm going to kiss you." Olivia's mom interjects, "How about you go on a mission first." Aiden says thoughtfully, "oh yeah, that." Turns to Olivia, "Then I'm going to kiss you."

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Zoe's started to say prayers now. In fact she's very enthusiastic about it and the rest of us have to suppress giggles cause she's just so darn cute! A typical prayer goes a little like this . . .

Mom: "Heavenly Father . . . "

Zoe: (in a squeaky little voice, arms folded tight and eyes squished closed) "squeak, whisper, squeak, squeak"

Mom: "Thank you for. . . "

Zoe: "Tank goo . . ."

Mom: "Daddy . . .

Zoe: "Daa-yee"

Mom: "Mommy . . ."

Z: "Ma-mee"

M: "Kolbi . . ."

Z: "Bol-bee"

M: "Jonah . . . "

Z: "No-nah"

M: "Aiden . . ."

Z: "Aid-n"

M: "Please help . . . "

Zoe: "Aid-n" (giggles from the kids)

M: "Please help . . ."

Zoe: "No-nah." (more giggles from the kids)

M: (sees a pattern here, moving on) "in the name . . ."

Zoe: "Aid-n"

M: "Of Jesus . . . "

Zoe: "De-sus"

M: "Christ . . ."

Zoe: "Cri."

M: "Amen."

Zoe: "Maa-menn!" (Throws her arms out wide. The kids lose it in fits of giggles and she beams proudly).

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As we're driving about, Aiden, Zoe and I often jam to tunes. Aiden is very funny about the songs. As I'm scanning through stations, Almost every song he's slightly familiar with, he informs me that that is his "favorite song." He likes to assign parts to the family . . . "I'm playing the guitar, Dad's singing, Jonah's playing the drums . . . "

He also takes the songs very literally. We were listening to a song where the female lead was singing "Baby, something, something, something." He complains from the back seat, "She keeps calling me Baby! I'm not a baby!"

We also listened to Bon Jovi's song "Who says you can't go Home" and he started bawling in the back seat. "What's wrong?!?" I asked. He wails out, "They said I can't go hoooomme!"

He likes to make up names for the songs too. The other day we heard a song I wasn't familiar with, he informs me, "This song is called, 'Water, Water, I want a drink and you're not letting me'." As the chorus starts, he says, "SEE! He just said he's thirsty!"

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We like to eat Hummus in this family, sprinkled with paprika. Aiden was asking for some one morning and said, "Mom, can I have some of that white stuff with that red stuff on it. I want a lot, a lot, of red stuff, but not too much red stuff because that will SPICE my tongue off!"

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Zoe was walking out of her room and bonked her elbow on the door sill. She scrunches up her face, grabs her elbow and says, "Oh, dat's ouches!"

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Aiden was going through our pantry and bugging me for some spaghettios. I looked at the label to find that it was full of modified food starch and high fructose corn syrup. Not wanting him to be a spaz I told him no (repeatedly). He wouldn't take this for an answer however and kept whining and bugging for it. He kept asking why not. Finally in exasperation I said, "Because it's full of CRAP!" (I know, way to keep your cool mom!). His eyes get big and he says, "That has POOP in it?!?!"