Verbatim

As we were taking a walk to the park on this lovely fall afternoon Gavin wanted to reminisce about a science experiment he witnessed earlier in the day that involved liquid nitrogen. "Mom. It was amazing how that balloon went from bulbous to thin so quickly and back to bulbous again."

I nodded in agreement. I also made a mental note to try to use the word 'bulbous' more often.

Thoughts On Christmas

Chuck and I had decided that this was the year that all the kids were going to cross that line into "the real world" where Santa is involved. We were going to break the news as gently as possible. So, while we were eating dinner the other night, Chuck asks the kids, "So, tell me your thoughts on Christmas. What is the first thing that pops in your head when you think about Christmastime?" We got a wide array of answers. None of them involved Santa. So we had to keep digging. Subtlety was not working. So Chuck just came right out and asked, "What are your thoughts on Santa?"

Both Bennett and Chloe responded, "He's not real, is he."

Daddy, "You're right."

"We didn't think so. We didn't think so last year either."

Ok then. That was a nice little conversation. I guess Chuck and I were the ones that were let down gently this year. Glad to know our kids are up to speed.