Absorbent and yellow and porous is he!

Okay, so Bubba's not yellow, and he's not porous and he's not absorbent -- at least not in the traditional sense as attested to by the fact that he's STILL wearing pull ups to bed at 4.5 years old -- but he is absorbent in the fact that he is listening ALL the time and he absorbs everything we say. And you don't even have to squeeze him very hard for it all to come pouring back out!

The scary thing is that you just never know what will come pouring out when. We've had our fair share of palmetto bugs (aka ginormous, humongous roaches) this year, as well as ants, and I just KNOW he's telling everybody at school "We have roaches all over our house!!" He did bombard some poor lady at Barnes and Noble with our horrific tale of ants taking over our car.

I know this is a phase that children go through. In fact, I remember once as a child I told someone from our church that someone had been drinking my mother's liquor. To clarify, my mother is not a drinker. She only kept some Canadian Mist around to drink in her eggnog at Christmas. However, at some point I overheard her remarking that the level in the bottle was noticeably lower and it seemed like a big deal. I don't remember WHY I felt the need to share, but I did. As a mother this story makes me cringe because several months ago when I woke Bubba up early one morning to get ready for school he said, "Mommy, where's daddy?"
"In the living room drinking coffee, probably." I said.
"Or beer." Bubba stated matter-of-factly. Ooohhh. I can just hear THAT one being repeated at daycare!

And they not only absorb our words, they absorb our personalities to some degree as well. Mr. Daddy is an old man (and I say that with love in my heart). And by "old man" I mean he's a curmudgeon (and I say THAT with love in my heart as well). He's like the old man in the neighborhood who tells all the kids to keep off the grass. Or turn their music down. He's been known to yell at cars speeding down the street to slow down. So Saturday, Bubba was picking up sticks in the yard and taking them down to the street to earn a little pocket money (which doesn't stay in his pocket very long. Hmmmm. Wonder where he learned THAT habit?). He was standing probably 15 feet from the edge of the street when a car came zooming down the road and Bubba yelled out "Slow down!" Pause. "You almost hit me!" That's an "old man" in the making if I ever heard one!

And don't think Punkin' is going to be left out. She is the original Miss Copycat (wait, is that an oxymoron?). She copies everything everybody says. Sometimes it's cute. Sometimes not so much. This afternoon as we were waiting for the light to change, all of a sudden Punkin' yells out "Go, people!" I wonder where in the world she heard that?!?