Chick Quips

We were driving away from the gas station the other day when Lily asked, "Do you have gas now?" 

"Yup, I have lots of gas," I said and then quickly clarified, "in my car."

"But you don't have grass in your car, right?" Lily questioned.

"No, but I do have these," I said,  holding up the palm branches conveniently left in the car from Palm Sunday.

"Hey, I know what those are!" Madeline exclaimed. "They are, um, what do you call them again?"

"Palm branches," I said.

"Yeah! Those are palm branches," she said. (Gee, how did you ever know that, I humored silently.) She continued, "Jesus came in the town riding on a donkey and the people wanted to say hi, but they didn't know how to say hi so they just waved those at him instead. Some people don't know how to say hi, did you know that mom?" 

*****

Another car conversation went like this:

"Mom, who's the black guy who brings you presents?" Madeline asked. 

Hmmm, now that is a tough one. I rummaged through my mind to think of any friends who may have brought us presents in the recent past. 

"Um, what kind of present did he bring?" I asked, stalling. 

"No, not a guy that is black," she corrected herself. "He wears black." (Gee, that sure narrows it down....)

"Well, can you tell me what he brought us?" I asked.

"No, he doesn't bring kids presents, just adults," she continued. 

"Ok, what kind of presents does he bring adults?" I asked. 

"No, he doesn't bring you presents, he brings you boxes," she clarified more. 

"Oooooh, does he drive a big, brown truck?" I asked, understanding now.

"Yeah! That's who I mean!" she said, excitedly. 

"He's the UPS guy," I said, thinking, what can brown do for you? A little extra confusion to our day is always nice....

*****

And then there is my favorite recent conversation. I was loading the girls up in the car to head to the store. Lily says, "Madeline and I are the princesses!" 

"Yes, you certainly are," I replied.

"And you can be the queen," she continued. 

"Am I a good queen or an evil queen," I asked. 

"Um," she thought for a moment, a puzzled look on her face. "And evil queen?" she asked.

"Ahhh, I don't like being evil!" I said.

"No, you are a nice queen," Madeline joined in.

"Thanks, Madeline," I said.

"Yeah, and Liam is the prince," Lily said. 

"Great! So, if he is the prince, and I am the queen and you are the princesses, who is daddy?" I asked. 

"Daddy's the king!" they agreed. 

"What about Aidan?" I asked. 

There was a moment of silence and then Madeline spoke up, "He's the dog." 

Sometimes I would describe their sibling relationships as full of adoration. Sometimes, not so much....