DS3.5 adores the Wes Anderson version of Fantastic Mr. Fox, which uses the generic "cuss" in the place of any salty language. He just referred to a scene in the movie as a "total clustercuss" and said "Mr. Fox wants to cuss with their heads". Language in our house is otherwise G-rated, but this had me laughing!

That is really cute. I love that movie too.

The kids and I started watching Stargate SG1. The come upon the planet's temple DD11 says "I wonder what culture this will be" Me: maybe egyptian. stargate has a lot of that. DD11:No, I think its Minoan. Yes, Minoan.
Of course, its clear after a minute that she's right. So she says
"I love SG1. I love to figure out what culture the episode is about. It's like a kid show, but not for kids."

Ds11 does not like to read. He is an excellent reader, and reads a lot at school - but out of school, reading just isn't his thing Last week, he had to read "Hunger Games" for school - and once he was finished with it, he decided to read "Catching Fire". We traveled out of town this past weekend, as he had a soccer tournament 4 hours away - he read ALL the way, read again once we got into our hotel room, read at every opportunity between games, and read all the way home again. Yesterday, he read before school, and after school (he's now on to "Mockingjay"). Happy mom here !!!

More of DS3.5's philosophizing (said out of the blue while settling before bed, which seems to be his favourite time for musings): "We can only ever really know ourselves, not other people."

And for toilet training, DS on recognizing when he's got to go: "I'll let you know as soon as I feel peristalsis."

aquinas, if your DS can truly know himself, he will be ahead of most of us. I wonder what he would think of that?

Things are finally working the way they should for both my kids, after 3-6 months of therapy:

DD13 - the one with real difficulty writing, especially with idea generation - is holed up in her room writing the novel she's been working on for the last month!
She chose, applied to, and was accepted at a private school that should make her very happy next year. She's finding her people. (Nearly everyone IRL, that would be NOT YOU. So I can't say it out loud.)

Meanwhile, DD8 - who was reasonably accurately assessed at 1st grade reading level at the start of the year, since she couldn't bring a whole word into focus at once - is now frustrated that the 3rd grade chapter books she's chosen aren't taking long enough to read. She's moved up to 6th grade level stuff, which is where her interest is anyway.
Where else can I say that with relief, instead of as a boast?
Yesterday we received a new Beast Academy shipment. She carried the book with her everywhere and read it in the grocery store (!), then quizzed me on logic puzzles all the way home. She was amazingly pleasant all evening! Full, happy brains.

DD7, playing the Dragon Box geometry game, when rotating a radius around a circle to "prove" that the radii are equal, chanted "Brachiating! Brachiating!" It took me a moment to realize how apt an analogy that is.

DD's new obsession is Minecraft, which is rather age-appropraite given that she is almost 5. The quirky part is, she talks to the animals non-stop. She's just so, so weird sometimes.

When we had DS6 in to take the WISC, the psychologist asked him if he spoke any languages other than English. He replied that he spoke this language where you take each word you say and replace the first consonant with the sound the letter B makes. Then he asked if that is what she meant.

DS3.5 and I were reading Shrek last night before bed. When DH came in to wish DS goodnight, DS objected to a kiss and recited from the book:

Harken, stranger!
Shun the danger.
If you plan to stay the same,
You'd best go back from whence you came.

When he sees children acting up in public, he's taken to saying with a tone dripping in disdain, and often quite loudly, "What a revolting child!" (thank you, Roald Dahl, for this description of Augustus Gloop.) He said this about some friends' 2 year old when we were at their house for lunch this past weekend, as the child was getting ready for nap. I winked at him secretively and said, "Oh, you must be thinking of Veruca Salt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", to which he replied with a w ink, "Of course." Oh dear.