Subway Singies

"Walmart has a Subway," Joel told me last night as I rubbed his sleepy head.

"Yes, you're right, they do." (I wondered why he was thinking about Subway going to bed.) "What's your favorite thing there?"

"The cookies," he said.

Tell me, do YOU think of cookies when you think Subway? He's only had ONE at any Subway that I can think of. And it was the time I shared a sub with him at Walmart.

"What else do you like at Subway?"

"The #1."

I laughed. He remembered a combo number!

"What's a #1 have?" I asked, not recalling.

"Um, those little round singies."

"What little round thingies?" I was stumped.

"Those singies that are like hot dogs."

"Hmm. Subway doesn't have hot dogs."

"I kNOW. They're LIKE hot dogs, though."

"Are they meat or something else?"

"They're meat. Oh yeh... they're meatballs!"

"Oh, okay, you're right."

"Subway's a-pensive, though. You gotta have a lotta money."

"Yeh, that's why we don't eat there too often."

"That guy had to give you money," he told me.

"What guy?" (Would I forget a hand-out that easily?)

"The guy that gave you the cookies and the number 1."

"Oh, the cashier? Yeh, he gave me money, but it wasn't as much as I gave him."

"It wasn't?"

"No. I gave him about ten dollars and he gave me about five back."

"Oh. That's a-pensive for meatballs."

"Is it expensive for cookies?" I asked.

"Um, no," he said definitively, and then fell asleep.


Fri Nov 18, 06:49:17 PM

A Line I Cherish

Joel hugged me very tightly this morning and gave me a long kiss on the cheekbone.

"I'm gonna love you forever!" he said.


Now if only the older kids would repeat after him.

Baby Talk to Momma

Joel is three and he has been doing the funniest little thing lately. He tickles my cheeks with both hands and says in a baby-talk voice, "Aw, coot little face."

Stinking More Highly of Oneself than One Ought

If you're a mother of boys, or a sister of brothers, or have shared a house with a man who grew up with boys, you understand that much conversation in the home of these male individuals often revolves around bodily functions and the smells associated therewith.

The bathroom is a source of much humor at our house. I should apologize, I should wince, maybe I should scold. But I have three sons and one husband (who was one of five boys) so I have,instead chosen to simply accept this norm.

Take this morning, for example. Joel , who is three and still needs to be wiped after doing his duty (doody?), called me in to the bathroom.

"Ew, Joel, you stink!" I said.

"Yes, I do!" he said almost proudly. "It smells like blueberries in here!"

The Smell of a Cinnamon Roll

This will only be funny if I preface it by telling you that Joel had a cinnamon roll for breakfast.

An hour later we were picking up Sarah and Stephen after their geometry class at the school. They got in the car.

Sarah: "Hi, Joel!"

Joel: "Hi" (Wrinkles nose.) "Sumpin' tinks.:

Sarah: Something stinks? Like what?

Joel: Like cinnamon rolls.

Sarah: "Cinnamon rolls don't stink.

Joel: "'Cuse me."

Pretending to Kiss

I was standing in the doorway of the bathroom this morning, watching Joel play in the tub. But my mind was elsewhere. It must have been a pleasant thought because Joel looked at me inquisitively and asked, "Do you want to kiss me?"

I smiled. "Do I look like I want to kiss you?"

"Yeh, you are 'tanding there pretending to kiss me."



So as not to disappoint him, I forced myself to the tub, bent over and kissed his dripping little lips.

You Know it's Cold When...

I was dressing Joel yesterday because he was too cold to do it himself.

He said, "I'm cold. My teeth is cold. When my teeth is cold, mine self is cold."





Yup, I know the feeling. My teeth is cold from November to June.