In one ear, and out the other...?

I’ve discovered that while my words may not necessarily go in one ear and out the other while yelling at my children, the meaning certainly does. For example, Meagan has taken to running around, yelling various chastisements at Bethany and me. We were sitting on the couch humming together, when she stormed up and yelled, “Guys! Wake up!” Okay, I admit that I don’t ever yell that one (I’m quite thankful, normally, when they are asleep), but it was pretty funny. She also likes to run around yelling, “Be nice” at random intervals. Too bad she hasn’t figured out what that one means yet.
Another example of this was at the toy store the other day. The girls found some ridiculous ATM thing with lots of buttons and a silly robotic voice asking if they wanted to make a withdrawal. Of course they loved it. They sat in the aisle and played with them for several minutes. I warned them up front that we were NOT taking those things home. When they protested that they liked them, I said, “Too bad!” Nate was trying to interest Bethany in a new train, which was the ostensible reason we were there, but she merely glanced at it and said, “Too bad!”

Today we were out running errands and it got to lunchtime. I was hungry, and toyed with the idea of stopping at Cici’s for lunch, because it was there, and it‘s cheap. The girls aren’t very good with pizza, though, so I asked Bethany if she wanted pizza before actually hauling them in there. To my surprise, she actually said she wanted some, but I was still doubtful, and eventually decided to scrap the idea. On the way home, though, the idea grew on me, and Bethany kept insisting that she wanted pizza, so I decided to order one for lunch. Of course, as soon as the hot box of pizza was on the table and I opened it, she declared, “I don’t want pizza.” Argh! Oh well, that’s more for me, right?

In the midst of all the errands today, Bethany started crying. I looked back at her and asked her what was wrong. One of her toes was a little cracked, a souvenir of wearing sandals all summer. She said to me, “Bethany’s getting broken. I need a bandaid.” Very interesting syntax there.