spellbound

Sonja: "I told Evan and Sage they could watch an m-o-v-i-e later."

Sage (looking excitedly at Daddy): "M-o-i-v-e spells TV!"

scooped

Sonja: "Evan, it says in the school newsletter that your class wrote out spelling words in shaving cream. Is that true?"

Evan: "Yeah. We did that a few days ago."

Eric: "Evan, how come you never tell us about cool stuff like that when we ask you what you did in school?"

Evan: "Well I would if there weren't a newsletter."

names have been changed to protect the innocent

Today, when Sonja and I called Evan off the playground at the end of the school day, it took him a minute to come running. When he finally got to us, he said, "Sorry about that. I was in a discussion about Sarah having a crush on me, and that can be pretty distracting."

organization man

Evan: "Here's my usual weekend routine: I get up at 7 o'clock, get dressed, eat breakfast, and go walking around the neighborhood looking for my associates..."

GDB

Sage and I were out swimming this evening. At one point I looked up and there were hundreds of white birds circling above our house — big migratory birds of some sort, probably moving off the river or one of the reservoirs, soaring and wheeling in three or four groups that merged and separated. They were moving vaguely westward, but in such big, leisurely circles that it took them 10 minutes or so to pass completely over our house and out of sight. The sun was low in the sky, and the undersides of their wings were illuminated -- it was stunning. Sage's two comments were, "It's the geese dance ballet!" and "Every day I come out here and the geese dance ballet is not happening. But today it's happening!"

which is, indeed, how i would hop a train

At Gage Park there's a caboose from an old freight train that kids can climb on. Today Evan suggested we hop the train, "like bozos."

Right now he's outside in the front yard, working on "a police private property oil-tanking zone."

why we won't be buying Sage a little hatchet

Sage: "Sometimes, when there are no grownups around, I draw on things that aren't paper."

Eric: "Sage, you know you shouldn't do that."

Sage giggles mischievously.

Eric: "Sage, if you draw on things that aren't paper, you're going to get your toys taken away."

Sage (still giggling): "No, because I'm sneaky."

Eric: "It doesn't matter. You'll still get your toys taken away."

Sage: "Yeah, but then I'll say 'I'm sorry' and you'll give me my toys back."

i'm not a parent, apparently

Sage: "Can we watch TV?"

Sonja: "No, Sage, you watched a lot of TV yesterday. No TV this morning."

Sage: "Daddy, when Mommy goes on her run, can you sneak upstairs and turn on the TV for us?"

after the party, Evan helps tidy up

Evan: "Can I have a glass of Coke? Because, you know, we've got all this Coke left over, and we need to get rid of it.... Can't just have it lying around...."

Dr. No

Sonja: "What kind of musical activities should we sign you up for, Evan? You could learn to play the violin, the piano. There are choirs you could join, for singing. What kind of music are you interested in?"

Evan: "Umm... James Bond theme music."

Sonja: "Well, that's interesting music to listen to, but I'm asking what kind of music you're interested in making."

Evan: "Beat-boxing."

book 'em

Eric: "What did you play over at the Beall girls' house?"

Evan: "We played espionage up in their attic for a long time, and then we came down and played library."

Eric: "You played library?"

Evan: "Yeah. Sage was the librarian, and Bannon was the mean second librarian, and Ann was the storyteller, and I was security, and McCall was just a person visiting the library. And a robber."

burp, memory

Evan: "Remember when you came by my classroom after the first-grade musical to say hi, and all the kids kind of gathered around you because you're so tall?"

Eric: "Oh yeah. That was cool."

Evan: "And Mohammed wore his glasses after that. He never wanted to wear his glasses all year, because he thought they made him look bad. But after he saw how tall you were and saw you wearing glasses, he thought glasses made him look cool."

Eric: "Wow. I didn't know that. That's great. Mohammed was a real character. I liked him a lot."

Evan: "Yeah. Except he burped in my face one time."

speak no evil

Evan: "The problem with comic books is that whenever the bad guys capture the superheroes, they always tell them what their new evil invention is."

mondegreen

Grandma Sue: "Bon appetit!"

Sage: "Go up and eat!"