Great idea, Tim!

So, the other morning I was leaving the house for work, and Tim said, pretty excitedly, "Ohhh, hey, before you go, you gotta check out this new trick I taught the kids." The kids were barely awake, which is what made this feat even more impressive. Gabe and Sofia were at the top of the stairs when Tim called up, "Hey Gabe, why don't you go put some socks on?" to which Gabe's eyes lit up and he replied, "Why not, Dad? That's a GREAT idea!" And Sofia appeared to be craning her neck in anticipation of the question she'd get. Tim asked, "Sofia, what do you think? Why don't you go put socks on and then brush your teeth?" Same excited answer -- "Why not, Dad? That's a GREAT idea!" and off she marched. I naturally cracked up laughing and *tried* not to sound terribly cynical as I whispered, "I wonder how long this will last..."

Tim informed me that he had a talk with the kids the evening before about how it really doesn't feel good to be told "no," and if they'll work with us to resist the urge to say "no" to simple directions (or flat out ignore us until we're blue in the face repeating directions), we'll work to start saying "yes" more often too. To be honest, I don't remember telling my parents "no" as much as Gabe tells us "no" -- Mom will certainly correct my shoddy memory here! But at age 8, Mom? Was I this rebellious? Sofia really is still incredibly well behaved, but Gabe has a mind of his own half the time. I adore that kid's mind most of the time -- he's creating something magical in his brain or telling clever jokes.

When he should be doing homework, he'll ask me off-the-wall random things like, "Mom, when I grow up, can I be a maze-maker?" to which I tell him of course he can ("and now please finish your homework.")  Another day this week, I was doing one of my workouts when Gabe came up behind me and read the name of the exercise scrolling across the bottom of the screen. He ever-so-nonchalantly asked, "What's that move called, Mom?" Out of breath, I managed, "high knees" to which Gabe doubled over laughing, "HINEYS!!! HINEYS!!!" hahahaha! He totally walked me right into that one, and I didn't even see it coming.

Sofia is our little artist. She is drawing and coloring constantly -- beautiful images that I couldn't draw now even if I spent hours trying. She often wakes me up on Saturday mornings with "presents" -- like her own rendering of a pretty peacock. And she's super diligent about her homework. She loves homework -- she'll read the same book over and over again about 8 times just to gain speed. She's super competitive with her brother -- pipes up with the answers to his math times tables when we're quizzing him (before he does sometimes).

Next time I write, I'll try to remember to let you know if the kids are still parroting back, "Why not? That's a great idea!" I did want to give Tim a shout-out for the great idea -- however long this lasts. :)