Laughter is an Instant Vacation

My boys seem to have the sole purpose in life of sending us all on a vacation, with our daily dose of laughter. Here are just a few glimpses into life with my three boys, Jaiden, Traiven and Caedmon.

Once, when I entered the room, Tray was lying on his back with his shirt up over his neck. He seemed to be poking himself in the ribs. I asked him, "Honey, what are you doing?"
And this was his nonchalant response, "Tickling my elbow."

We went on a real vacation and decided to ride the ducks. While explaining this to the boys, Jaiden said, "Mommy, if we ride a duck, it will hurt it."

Last Easter I bought marshmallow Peeps for the kids' Easter baskets. I handed one to Jaiden and told him he could go ahead and eat it if he would like. He took a bite, made the most awful face, and said, "UGGGHHHHH, I don't like marshmallow peepee!"

One Saturday we went to Mt. Vernon for a family day out. Traiven kept getting ahead us in line during the tour. Fortunately, the couple in front of us, obviously grandparents themselves, were very helpful in steering him back to where he belonged. Towards the end of the tour, he had enough of waiting in line and decided to take off. Doing what all good moms would do in this situation, I grabbed the back of his shirt to keep him from his planned escape. Apparently, I accidentally got some skin when I went to pull. Really loudly he yells, "OWWWWWWW! My mommy just pinched me!" To which everyone in the tour turns around and looks at me. I can only imagine what was going through their minds at this time. Probably something like, "What a terrible mother!" Then, he says, "Mommy why would you do that? Gosh! Mommy that HURT HURT HURT!" To which I started laughing so hard that I was crying. Determined to get the last word, he turns his head, crosses his arms over his chest, juts out his little jaw and says, "MMMMMMMMM!" in an indignant sort of way. Bad mother or not, I was laughing so hard I could no longer breathe. I was definitely on an instant vacation.

Traiven also has been going through a phase of being scared of the dark recently. He had started talking to God every time he had to go in a room alone, but now he has been yelling as he goes up the stairs. The first time it was "Ghost Rider! Ghost Rider!" over and over. He heard his daddy and I discussing renting the movie at Blockbuster and the name unfortunately has stuck in his little mind. So he has started yelling it continuously. Now he has modified it where every time he goes up the stairs he yells something new at the top of his lungs. Being the great (yet terrible) mother that I am, I asked him about it today. "Traiven, why do you yell when you go up the stairs?" Without missing a beat he says, "I'm scaring away the ghosts."

At lunch one day, he put his sandwich down, looked at me thoughtfully, then said, "I have a hole in my mouth mommy." Smiling and trying to stifle any laughter (even though I was seriously ready for a vacation), I said, "Yes, honey that's so that you can swallow your food."
"Uh-huh, that way my food can go down to my brain."
Deciding to go with it, I asked, "Where is your brain?"
At this question he points to his stomach and says, "Here."

Some days the way my kids say something makes me laugh. This year's favorites have to be Traiven and his car seat "hup colders" and Jaiden and his "kumans are people."

Last Christmas we went to see Santa at the store where I was working. Traiven sits on his lap and says, "Santa, where's your reindonkeys?"

Hopefully you have gotten your daily dose of laughter now. If not, you can always borrow my boys!