I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. He clearly understands the concept though! :-)

Jim took Gareth to the mall the other day to get some shinguards as he starts soccer this week. We’re not shoppers in this family and spend as little time in malls as possible, as was evidenced by Gareth’s loud comment while walking past mannequins in a store window: “Daddy…is that what we do with dead people?!?”

Did your family do anything to mark the day? We watched a couple of BBC April Fools videos with the boys. There was much giggling from our two little nature nuts. Check out flying penguins, flying penguins—the making of, and the classic from the 1950s, spaghetti trees. Daegan particularly liked the mention of the dreaded spaghetti weevil. Happy April Fools!

We started buying a new juice product because it contained added vitamins / minerals (and it was on sale, and we had a coupon). The boys love it. It’s Oasis FruitZoo juice, and each flavour of drink box (recycleable in Alberta) has a different animal on the front. One day while giving Gareth the apple juice, which has an elephant on it, Jim called it “mammoth juice”, playing up the boys’ love of all things prehistoric. Ever since, Gareth has referred to it as mammoth juice—“Can I have a mammoth juice with lunch please?” I guess Gareth got to...

For a few years now I’ve been mixing my words up. It started with reversing initial letters of common expressions. While driving in the country one time I was commenting on the scenery, and out came “hales of bay” (bales of hay). On another trip outside Boston, I commented to Jim about all the “out of plate states”. You sure saw a lot more of them in the North East, with the small states, than you do out in the giant western provinces of Canada! More recently, I’ve started mixing up entire metaphors or idioms. “The apple doesn’t fall...

As some of you know, I studied philosophy in university and have an M.A. in the subject. Nonetheless, I was a little taken aback by the following conversation I had with Gareth just before our final family Clay class. Gareth: After this, will the story be finished? Me: Ummm….Well, this is the final clay class, so after this the class will be finished. Gareth: OK….So the story will be finished then? Me: This is the last class, but I’m not sure what story you mean, Gareth. Gareth: The story we are in. Me:...

Or so was Gareth’s claim. He wasn’t tired yet, and wanted to watch one more show. “Fine,” we said, as it was Friday night and we had no appointments tomorrow except the afternoon clay class. “You can watch this while we help Daegan brush his teeth and get ready for bed.” This is what we found when we came downstairs again: Gotta love 4-year-olds. :-)

I was working downstairs, when Daegan came to see me. “Daddy wants to know if you would like a cup of tea?” “That’d be great. Thanks.” I replied. Daegs scooted upstairs, and I could hear Jim and he talking. Daegs came back down and said: “Do you want regular tea, or cap-u-tea-no?” “What!” I laughed.  “Regular or decaffeinated?” Jim hollered from the kitchen. :-)

Here’s Daegan’s answers to completing the proverbs. Many hands make…life work. [Interesting improvement on the original, eh?] A leopard cannot change…spots. If at first you don’t succeed…just jump. [Daegan jumps on our mini-trampoline to calm himself down when frustrated] Every dog has…a nose. A good man is…Daddy. [Awww….] You can lead a horse to water, but…the horse sinks in the mud. All work and no play…is just silly! [the wisdom of youth <g>] The best things in life are…hugs, kisses, and…hugs. Ask a silly question and…laugh. Look before you…touch....

I made up a little exercise for the boys, to see how many proverbs / idioms / common expressions they had picked up. It will also serve as a writing exercise for Daegan when he completes it later tonight or tomorrow morning. And humour for us adults. :-) Here’s the proverbs the boys completed, in case you’d like to run them by your own kids before reading our answers: Many hands make… A leopard cannot change… If at first you don’t succeed… Every dog has… A...