Leo Moments

At three and a half, Leo is at this super verbal and curious stage that results in him regularly blowing my mind...and/or cracking me up.  Here are a few favorite recent exchanges.

Cookie Monster

jb and I often lament when characters on children's shows don't speak clearly or properly.  We were out doing some shopping and Leo was interested in a pair of pjs that had Cookie Monster on them.  He inquired about what the words on them said and jb answered, "Me want cookies."  Of course, since this is a hot button for us, she went on to ask him, "But that's not the correct way to phrase that sentence, is it?  How would you say it better?"

Obviously, she was fishing for the correction of "me" to "I" for a grammatically correct, "I want cookies."

Instead, Leo, without hesitation said, "May I please have some cookies?"  Show off.

On To Me

Leo was refusing to eat lunch, so I told him that if he wasn't going to eat, he could be excused.  Before he got up from the table, he asked, "May I have a chocolate?"

"Oh, sure!" I replied, "In fact, why don't you go take the whole bag into your room and watch shows until bedtime.  Who needs lunch or dinner when there's chocolate?"

A smile began to spread across his face, but then the corners of his mouth fell and he looked at me suspiciously.  "I think you are being facetious," he said to me with a side eye.

(I know this one is actually the work of Aunt Erin.  I did hear her define the word for him when she was visiting, but that was, what? Months ago?)

R.I.P.

While we were in Pittsburgh, my mom had to put down one of her cats.  We explained to Leo that Frank, the cat, was very sick and died.  He asked several times about it, and we made sure to explain the different ways a person or an animal can be sick.  Well, Frank's passing had slipped my mind when I was listing everyone who lives in Abi's house and as I was absent-mindedly rattling off the list "Abi, Grandpa, Uncle Nick, Aunt Lissa, Simon, Frank...."  Leo interrupted me and gently but very matter-of-factly said, "Actually, Frank is no longer alive."  All I could do was acknowledge that he was correct, but I was very impressed with not only his memory, but his understanding of the permanence of death.

Gotcha

We were all sitting at the dinner table when out of nowhere, Leo mused aloud, "I think I'm going to vote for Governor Corbett..."

jb and I exchanged a brief covert look that said, "Deep breath...remain calm."

"Well, kiddo, you can vote for anyone you want when you are old enough, but why do you think you will want to vote for Governor Corbett?" said said in an impressively calm and gentle voice.

Leo couldn't hold it back a moment longer - "Hahahahahaha.  I"m just joking!"

I gotta say, he totally had us.

Scientifically Unsound

Recently we had brunch with some friends. The twin girls we were hanging out with had these awesome dinosaur sweatshirts on. Leo is super into dinosaurs and knows a lot about them thanks to repeatedly viewing episodes of Dinosaur Train. Well, the Dinos on these shirts were T-rexes, but kind if looked like they were walking in all fours - which Leo was quick to point out, did not add up. Ha. Cute. But he would not drop it. Throughout the entire meal- and subsequent walk home - he continued to question and critique these dinosaurs. 

"They look like T-rexes, and they have sharp teeth...but carnivores aren't usually quadrupeds. Why are they walking on four feet?"

"Maybe it's a T-Rex that is sneaking up on its prey. Predators probably have to sneak sometimes."

"Maybe the person who made those shirts didn't know a lot about dinosaurs. Or maybe they were using their imagination. Why did they want a pretend dinosaur instead of a real one?"

Oh my goodness, kid. I don't know. I will write the clothing company a letter with all these questions, just please let me eat my pancakes.

Punny

When I make pancakes I sometimes use pancake molds- including a heart shaped one. One day, while making heart shaped pancakes for Leo, I placed his plate in front of him and asked if he'd like me to cut up his pancake for him (because I've made the mistake if not asking first and weathering the resulting meltdown- but that's another post). "Sure, mama!" He chirped. So I began to cut up his pancake and he jokingly clutched his chest and said laughing, "You're breaking my heart, mama!"  Puns. Intense.