Literally

March 3, 2010 by Rieshy


My two oldest children take a couple of classes at tutorial that meets once a week. Their teacher had the students divide up into groups and choose an act from Hamlet to learn and perform. My two chose to work together on the bloodiest act (of course) at the end where all the main characters die.

Hmmmmm- They neglected to tell me that the parents were invited to come see all the groups perform their acts in order of the play. But.... mwhaahahaha a friend told me- 10 minutes before the performance time.

I threw on some clothes grabbed two of my more respectably dressed children and ran out the door.

On the ride to the tutorial I gave a short lecture to 3 yo- "You are going to have to sit absolutely still on my lap during the play."

He didn't answer for a moment then asked in a serious and somewhat worried voice, "Can I make the air come in and out of my body."

The 8 yo answered for me, "Yes, you can breathe- you just can't wiggle your body around."

After another pause 3 yo asked, "Can I wiggle the spit around in my mouth?"

I think he meant, "Can I swallow?" He and 8 yo then had a conversation about spit-wiggling versus spitting- a very serious distinction- one that I appreciate.

3 yo seems bent on parsing the entirety of the english language. A few nights ago when I was tucking 3 yo into bed he asked what language the word "breakfast" was. Then he wanted to know if it meant the same thing as "later."

Why yes, it does- Breakfast, after the play, you can spit-wiggle while you make the air come in and out, but only breakfast.

-The play ended up being a lot of fun to watch. I'm happy to report that we all breathed and swallowed quietly.




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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love it when they are literal. SO cute!

I am glad everyone is making air come in and out - that is quite important!

Do you read Helene at I'm Living Proof God Has a Sense of Humor?

She did a post on how her kids helped with dinner, touched the raw meat and din't wash their hands. Then she said, "OMG, you're all going to get sick and die from salmonella."

They all burst out crying that they were going to die!

Unknown said...

This is awesome. Cracks me up! I did the whole die thing the other day, "I'll die if I don't get some coffee". It was a shock to my 2 year old. oops.

Shelby said...

Oh my goodness...this made me crack up! He sounds like such a cutie pie! Way to go momma for 'hearing it through the grapevine' and showing up!!

Joy said...

That is a hysterical story!!! I LOVE the way little ones think and ask questions. :) Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment! I'll be visiting you regularly too!

RivkA with a capital A said...

Kids are so literal.

When they ask me cancer questions, I have to listen carefully and make sure I am answering the question literally, rather than making assumption about what they might "really be asking."

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