Dylan's latest...

I was trying to decide where we should have Dylan's birthday party - Our house? Grandma's house? I asked Dylan where we should have it and he said "I think we should have it at your doctors office in case the baby comes."

We told Dylan that the baby would arrive near his birthday so that he'd have a better idea of when to expect him. Now I think Dylan is expecting the baby to come DURING his party... actually I think he's HOPING the baby will come during his party. I keep telling him that the baby wont come during the party (since we moved his birthday party up, it's 3 weeks from my actual due date), but I think he's still expecting a baby brother for his birthday.

It's amazing what kids can quickly pick up from tv. This morning we were flipping through the stations. Of course there's nothing but infomercials on Saturday mornings. We stopped for a second on an infomercial that promised "You can lose 3 inches off your tummy in just 6 days!" Dylan looked at me and said "That's what you need!" Gee thanks! haha. We just cracked up. I didn't realize how much he listened to what was on the tv when he wasn't even really watching it.

A recent conversation between daddy and Dylan:

Dylan: What are the red things in eyes?
Dada: They're veins.
Dylan: What are veins?
Dada: They carry blood throughout your body.
Dylan: What's blood?
Dada: It's the red stuff that comes out when you get a boo boo. It helps spreads oxygen through your body.
Dylan: What's oxygen?
Dada: Oxygen is in the air that we breathe and we need it to live.
Dylan: .....Then how do fish breathe?
Dada: Hmmm. They use gills. Fish get their oxygen from the water and people get it from the air.
Dylan: .....Then how does the baby in mommy's belly get it?
Dada: (daddy's wondering how much longer this might go on) When mommy eats and breathes, everything goes through the umbilical cord and through the baby's belly button....

...All that just because Dylan had a bouncy ball that looked like an eyeball. What do we do when we have 3 little boys asking "Why?? How??" Dylan doesn't accept a simple answer - he wants to know the truth. It's no exaggeration that kids are like sponges! It's amazing how many times Dylan will ask us a question that actually stumps us - or we don't know how to answer (especially on the spot). Like "What's Good Friday?" Not an easy subject to explain to a preschooler on the way to the grocery store. We usually start with "Um. Well. Hmmm. Let's see...." Or when we were listening to the song 'The Saints Go Marching In' and he asked "What are saints?" Well, according to dictionary.com, a saint is "A person officially recognized, especially by canonization, as being entitled to public veneration and capable of interceding for people on earth.", but I figured that was a little above what he was asking. It's amazing how quickly we need to get the wheels in our head turning to explain such answers in ways that are easy to understand. And once we think we've come up with a good answer, there are always the follow up questions. The song then goes "I want to be in that number..." So he asks "What does 'in that number' mean?" I guess it's time to start thinking about how to explain the complicated truths of life - death, heaven, God, angels.... It's hard to believe that Dylan is almost 5 and we're moving into a new phase with him. We're going beyond teaching the ABC's and 123's and into the questions that really make you think. He loves to learn and he is very inquisitive about the world. It's hard to know what to say and how to explain things without confusing him more or causing him fear. I have a feeling that the questions are going to keep getting tougher to answer.