Good for a Laugh

So I thought I would try to share some of the things the kids have said recently. Because my memory for the exact is not that great, some will be paraphrasing, but hopfully you will get the idea and be able to laugh along.

Being a Mommy
The theme of this story seems to be an on-going one now that I am married. Last September when Marcel and I announced that we were engaged, a mom (a fellow teacher) told her daughter the next morning - the reply "She's going to be a mommy!?" The rest of the girls were content with my saying that I had a 'princess ring' and that I would get to wear a 'princess dress' when I got marrried and did not push too much past that. The little girl continues to ask about being a mommy, but I think the best was a few weeks ago at snack.
"Miss Elizabeth, are you a mommy yet?"
"No, I got married and I am a wife."
"But are you a mommy?"
"No, when you get married, you become a wife and you have a husband, but you do not have to be a mommy. Marcel and I are husband and wife. Later I will be a mommy."
"Later like tomorrow?"
"No. I am only a wife right now - that is what I want to be right now, I will be a mommy later when I have a baby."
"Later like tomorrow."
"No, later like when you are in first grade."
"But that's a long time."

The next day, a different girl who had also been at the table for the 'pregnant tomorrow conversion' was sitting on my lap facing me while we were playing outside. Her mom is pregnant right now and starting to show more the last few weeks. The girl looked at my shirt and asked "Is there a baby in your tummy?" -- poking at the lump that was my belt buckle. I told her no and lifted up my shirt a little to show her, but she proceeded to poke at the little fat that is there and said that she thought there was a baby there. At that point I picked up her shirt gave her a tummy tickle and told her that her belly looked more like it had a baby in it. Luckily, she laughed and changed the subject then.

Comments from the Peanut Gallery
The morning we sailed into the harbor here in Benin, we had actually started school already, so I had the whole group out at the rail on Deck 7. I was trying to keep them occupied (as there was not so much happening) by asking them what they could see in the water. Some were saying they could see fish, octopus, trash, dirt, etc when one looks down and says, "I see cholorea in the water!!" I thought I had hear wrong - how did a four year old know about cholorea? - so I asked him to say again what he had see. "I see cholorea in the water!" His mom was nearby, so I had to ask. She said that he had had many shots before coming and they had talked about what they all were for. Although it helped with the understanding, it still was an interesting comment.

A different day, we discussing where the paper train we had made would stop. One boy spoke up and said that he wanted the train to stop at the IOC - this is the Mercy Ships base in Texas where everything is run. OK, I thought, we'll call that a stop at an office in Texas. The next boy speaks up and says "I want the train to stop at the IRS." After I stopped laughing, I asked him if he knew what the IRS was. "An office," he said simply. I still do not know if he really had a clue what he was talking about or where he had heard that, but it did make for a good laugh. Our train was pretty magical - it stopped in Texas, the IRS, England, South Africa, Italy and Benin.