Are all kids like this or are ours just extra surreal

I've made mention before how our oldest daughter has a habit of saying quirky things and is ahead of schedule academically. Our second daughter is the adventurer and party girl. Our new son is so new it is hard to say (but he is big, very alert, and very happy). Today it hit me how very surreal it can be to live with these little people. The only thing special about today was that we received a visit from Granny, Grandpa, and Great-Granny. Perhaps that made the kids more of everything in their excitement.

The visit itself was mostly play and talk. The kids were revelling in being so loved. They were also bouncing off the walls. At one point, child number one decided to play the game of being the baby. She would play on her brother's playmat with dangly things, then bring a toy bottle to someone to feed her (she doesn't actually drink milk). So we'd hoist her up on a lap and "feed" her a bottle. Then sit her back up to burp her. She would say "BRAAAP!" Then we would do it again or she would go back to playing on the playmat. Then at one point she did the sign for "more" in baby sign language and verbally asked for more. That surprised me. I do actually own a book about baby sign language. But I didn't remember actually teaching her anything from it and we didn't use it when she was a baby. Later when asked, she said that she learned it from us. If so it was in a passing comment about the book Mommy bought. Wow, teaching the baby will be easier with the girls doing it too.

I don't think Rhiannon did anything unusual at that time, But earlier this week while the girls were playing and I was in and out of the room doing chores, I walked in and saw her behind the sofa happily sitting on the window sill. She was in so tight that I couldn't just lift her out. I had to move the sofa out of the way some before lifting. Tonight she did the same thing in another room. This time she realized that she was stuck and called for help. In this case she was stuck between a futon armrest and the fencing that keeps the kids out of my husband's musical instruments.

Our little boy just made points with Great-Granny by being happy and laughing for her (the first time I think, A nice little "Heh-heh-heh").

When the visit was over, child number two decided that she was going home with the grandparents. She wanted to walk them out to the car and get in the car with them and go to their house. At the same time my husband was checking the mail at the mailbox and discovered a very important piece of mail. It was exactly the thing needed to make her forget about her attempt to leave home for greener pastures. Thank you Auntie Jean (yes, I know you're reading this). It was a birthday card for my husband, which when opened played Johnny Cash singing "Ring of Fire" (note: the cover showed a round birthday cake with candles in a circle). this fascinated our two year old and her Daddy took advantage of the good timing to tell her to take it inside to show Mommy. Now I grew up in a house where hearing Johnny Cash singing was a common occurence. However, my husband's tastes, while varied, tend to run more toward classical and opera. The next two hours were a bit trying for both of us while the girls took turns opening and closing the card to hear the song. At one point, during a Mariachi sounding segment, child number one pipes up "Here comes the fire truck!" Needless to say we both lost it. Then a few minutes later she spontaneously composed a poem about birthdays that I wish I remembered enough to write down. It was clearly something she was making up as she doing it. She managed four or five rhymed phrases that were all on topic and didn't wander strangely like her stories normally do. She was practically rapping. The only time that I remember her being exposed to rap music was when she was less than a year old at our old apartment building.

Add to all of this, my husband told me that she told him a story when I was out getting groceries this morning. she titled it "Chickens in the mood." Now to most adults "in the mood" phrased in this way makes them think that something not G rated is being talked about. So he suddenly paid attention to her story this time to make sure that she hadn't picked up something somewhere that she shouldn't have. He decided that it was PG rated. It was a long wandering story (as most of hers are) where, among other things, a chicken and a rooster were walking along holding hands.

Oh yeah, one more thing for the day. This morning I put on the original Fantasia movie for the kids to watch while I did some cross-stitch. Child number one provided us with an audio commentary for the entire movie. The only time she didn't talk was when the narrator was doing his bit. That's a long movie. She can be a pretty long-winded kid.

Auntie Jean, did you realize when you sent the card that it would teach the song "Ring of Fire" to the kids. Child number one was playing it on a kazoo. Child number two was singing the words. It is definitely surreal to hear a two-year old singing "Ring of Fire."