CAN I GO BACK INSIDE?

Melissa is having a meaningful conversation with her wide-eyed three-year-old who has just asked her where she came from. Melissa explains that she grew inside her belly for nine months. "But how did I come out of your belly?" she asks. Melissa continues to share the story of her birth by explaining that she couldn't come out the normal way (from between Mommy's legs) so the doctors "reached in and took you out of my belly." Enthralled by the prospect of going on a ride inside her mom's body, her daughter points to Melissa's stomach and exclaims, "Can I go back inside? I want to do it again!"

THE FACTORY

This weekend my daughter was in question mode. While eating a hamburger she inspected it, and then asked? "Mommy, where do burgers come from?" "That's easy, from a cow," I respond. Then we were out apple picking and following our 45 minute walk through the orchards where we picked some pretty lame fruit because the crowds had beaten us to the great produce, my daughter asked: "Mommy, which came first, the apple or the apple tree?" You try to answer that one...it's kind of hard to figure out. Then, following our apple picking extravaganza, we headed to a diner, where my daughter, who was enjoying her spaghetti slathered in butter sauce, peered over at my son's hot dog and asks me her inquisitive question of the day: "Mommy, where do frankfurters come from?" I give her a look, figuring she already knew the answer and reply, "Come on, it's the same place that hamburgers come from." "A factory?" Technically yes, but jeez, whatever happened to easy questions anyway!

BE KIND...REWIND!

You know your kid has been watching way too many videos when you're out with him in a restaurant, he breaks into a song from his favorite movie (still the "Wizard of Oz" of course), finishes the tune and then says "Wait, I'm going to rewind and start all over again." Since there's no video player in sight, he does the next best thing. Purses his lips together, jiggles them back and forth, makes a whirring noise, and voila...he's ready to start from the top..."I could while away the hours..."

PICKING A WINNER

My son is hosting a four-year-old playmate at our house and I'm about to hand him a snack when I notice that his index finger is lodged way up his nostril. "Find anything good up there?" I ask, thinking he'll decide it's time to find a tissue. "Not yet," he answers. "I'm digging for my brain."

BAD KIDDY JOKES!

My kids thought they were on the comedy circuit tonight and kept trying to impress me with their latest jokes. Here's a sample... Mommy...Why did the chicken cross the road? Why? I'm not telling you. Mommy...Why did the cow order popcorn? Why? Because he was at the Moo-vies. Mommy...Why did the chicken poop on the sidewalk? Why? I'm not telling you.

Mommy...What happened when the two bunnies got married? What? They went on a bunnymoon. Mommy...Why did the chicken marry the cow? Why? I'm not telling you. From here on out, joke time is officially on hiatus...until somebody comes up with something funny!

MONKEY BUSINESS

My son is having a grand old time as I chase him around in his bedroom so he'll put on his pajamas. As he pole vaults onto his bed and proceeds to start jumping up and down like a little maniac, I exclaim, "Cut that out because if you break your bed, who is going to pay to fix it?" My son looks me straight in the eye and says "I'll pay to fix the bed." "With what money, I ask?" "Oh, that's easy, with my monkey wallet!" Before heading to work the next day, I stop off at a coffee shop. As I rifle through my purse for cash, all I can find is the monkey wallet. While my son didn't use his stash to fix his mattress, he did help mommy pay for a bran muffin. No need to fret, I paid him back in full.

EWWWWW!!!!

Over the last two weeks, my daughter has picked up a new word to add to her growing vocabulary. "Ewwwww!!!!" She used this wonderful phrase after commenting on the size of a friend's oversized belly when he decided to go shirtless while our families shared a vacation home together. Luckily for us, our good friend took it in stride. Unfortunately, the dreaded comment reared its ugly head once again today just as we were pulling up to her house in our minivan. With our windows wide open, our daughter gazed outside to see another shirtless neighbor busily clearing up debris left by the latest rain storm. At the top of her lungs she yelled "EWWWWW!!!!" Completely mortified, all we could do was look at our neighbor with his back hair standing on end, shrug our shoulders and wave. We then sent our daughter inside to write out 50 times that she'd never insult anyone again with the phrase "EWWWWW!!!!" Better yet, next time we should just remember to close the windows when we drive down our street.