I can remember my dad trying to reason with my then-toddler nephew when my sister's family lived with them for a while. Not quite as fruitless as when dad tried to reason with my dog when we were living there, but close.

Poor dad. Always with the unreasonable houseguests.

I frequently advise JZ to quit reasoning with Matilda and pursue shiny object distraction strategies.

Matilda told me that the moon had no arms, but it had a mouth and a nose and a face. I just went along with it.

Yeah, that sounds right.

I just love the fact that whether or not the moon had arms was apparently under contention.

Discussions with Abby still have a great deal of that sensibility or lack thereof about them. Then again, this is a child who spends the vast majority of her time talking to Jigglypuff and drawing manga-style comics.

shiny object distraction works! DH continually tries to reason with helloKittyFan. And then smoke comes out his ears.

and I get lured into thinking that it's a conversation, really I just start getting headaches after a bit of trying to follow his (total lack of) logic.

snerk. If you were a droid you would totally have understood. And obeyed.

Granted, there was one particular hKF/Mal conversation on the beach that was one terrifying set of logic strings. It went like so:

One or the other of them: We're getting married.

The other other of them: yeah.

Mal: You have to get a dress.

HKF: You have to stop playing star wars so much.

One or the other of them: Yeah.

Sparky - sounds like a plan, though my DC schedule for next week is quasi-borked. I am coming down for a meeting on Thursday, so Tuesday f2f may or may not be a good idea. I'll know more when DH gets back from the conference on Friday.

happy second day of new job Raq.

I had a parking lot carbump at summer camp drop off today. it was cosmetic, but the guy was totally trying to get me to write a $500 check right there. His new (totally new. sigh) car had a mark just below the license plate. Mine, on the side, near the wheel because i'd backed out and was turning. I did not (for all my need to say so) say "oh wow I'm so sorry" and i'm glad because he kept saying 'well it's a bit of damage - look at it'... until another parent walked up and wiped the 'damage' on his car away with his hand. My car, not so lucky, but not terrible either. not a good morning to not make coffee.

I feel like every time Dylan makes a huge leap forward in communication skills I have to learn a new language in order to understand him. The latest milestone we've crossed has been sentences, but he talks so fast and stumbles over his words that it frequently takes a good two or three minutes to say something like "I want the blue cup."

He's also big into labeling things according to color and ownership. ("That's mommy's black shoes. And that's mommy's other black shoes. And that's mommy's other black shoes. And that's mommy's black shirt. And that's mommy's other black shirt.")

There was a period when Leif was just learning to talk that we had to have Emaryn translate for us since she was the only one who could understand him.

I just love the fact that whether or not the moon had arms was apparently under contention.

Well, when you think about it it's a little odd. Every single child's book on the planet, apparently, shows the moon as a big benevolently smiling face, and it's really quite lovely, except for the whole part where small children must conclude that there is in fact a huge disembodied head rolling around in the sky, with no arms and legs, shrinking to nothing and getting all big again every month, smiling benevolently at us all the time. The moon is one of those things that are ever present yet so bizarre that they can't be mentioned without a word or three of explanation.

Yeah. Plus there's that song that suggests that the moon is not as high as Zeppelins.