Dinner Conversation

I had to make a quick trip to Walmart after getting the boys today so rather than deny them food for the time it takes to bake the chicken I had planned to fix; I got a rotisserie chicken while there. When we got home I fixed cheddar broccoli rice - a quick 10 minutes for something they both eat well and we'd be ready for dinner. While I was fixing the rice, Ethan & Alex were playing right beside the gate (an indication of how hungry they were, I'm sure - trying to be as close to the table as possible). Dinner conversation really started at this point.

I heard Alex babbling and Ethan said, "da wat [rat]? Watigan [Ratigan]? Don't say that word." Alex, "huh? daa, uh” (I'd translate that for you, but I have no idea what he said). Ethan, "Dust don't say that word, Watigan. He's dust a bad wat." (We have digital cable and occasionally will purchase a movie for Ethan if he's been really good and we're really sick of the movies we own. About 2 months ago (or more) we rented "The Great Mouse Detective" in which the villain is a big rat named Ratigan and you were supposed to only whisper his name if you had to say it at all because he was scary and I guess saying the name might make him show up? I didn't pay close enough attention to know why they didn't want to say the word. Anyway, he watched it twice, 2 months ago and remembers it quite well still, apparently.) They continued their babble a few minutes more before I told Ethan he could take the gate down.

Ethan, "It's dinna time, Owix! Yeah, dinna...." He promptly got in his seat and Alex went to stand beside his and looked at me and said "daaa" sort of like "ummm hello, I need your help now please." As I walk towards Ethan, who is now sitting at his seat in front of his plate of chicken, he said "how come you didn't give us wice?" Me: "The rice isn't done yet sweetie. Just a minute more and I'll give it to you but you can start on the chicken." E: "Mmmmm, dis is good chicken. You made good chicken, Mama." (keep in mind, I bought the chicken cooked and basically cut it and put it on his plate - but hey, I'll take it). Me: "I make good dinner, huh? Well good then you should eat every bite." E: "Uh-huh. It's good dinna, Owix. It's yummy for us." (seeing me bringing him the rice) "And here comes the wice. Owix, this is gonna be a weally good dinna." I go to put the pot back on the stove and Ethan says, "we have to say God bless, Mama." (since many prayers start with or contain, "God bless..." (this food or Alex or Ethan) he calls prayers "God bless").

We grasp hands and say grace and you can't even begin to imagine how cute it is to see Alex & Ethan reach across the table to try to hold hands - they can't reach no matter how hard they stretch. I then put Alex's plate in the freezer for a minute to cool the rice and was carrying my plate to the table. Ethan said, "you dust need to cool mine off, too, Mama. You need to put it in the frigahator." So I did - and got myself something to drink; then got both plates out and gave them back to the boys and sat down so we could eat.

I noticed Ethan's milk, which was full when he sat at the table, was now empty. Me: "Did you drink all of your milk already?" E: "Uh-huh. I need some mo moke." (he has a habit of filling up on milk or juice so he won't eat dinner) Me: "Well you need to eat more of your dinner and then I'll get you some more." E: "I don't get chocolate moke at bedtime." Me (thinking, were we talking about chocolate milk?): "No, you don't get chocolate milk at bedtime but if you eat more of your dinner, I'll give you some chocolate milk and then you can have some cookies for dessert." E: "Ok. No, you dust said I could have eem & eem's." (at Walmart he asked for candy and I told him we already had candy at home - M&Ms from Nana. He wanted them and I told him he could have them after dinner.) Me: "Oh, I forgot. I did." E: "I'll eat my dinner and have some eem & eems and chocolate moke...who gave you and Alex, Mama?"

Me: "You tell me. Who gave me Alex?" E: "God did." (Ethan slept with me Saturday and kept telling me as he was going to sleep that he loved me. I told him I loved him, too, and I was glad he was my baby boy and that God had given him to me because he knew I needed him to be my baby boy. We then talked a few minutes about how God gave us Alex and Daddy and put us all together because we would love each other and I'd be a good Mommy for him and Daddy would be a good Daddy and he and Alex would be good baby boys, etc) Me: "That's right." E: "And who gave us Daddy?" Me: "You tell me." E: "Isaiah [the son of his babysitter] did." Me: "Noooo." E (chuckling): "GOD did!" Me: "That's right." E: "He's dust a good God." Me: "Yes, He is." E: "What is God, Mama." Me (thinking he probably had a thought on this already): "Well, what do you think?" E: "He's dust our fwiend and He's dust weally good." Me: "Yes, He is our friend. He is a really good God, huh." E: "Yes, He is a good God and He's our friend and He gave us Daddy and Owix...Owix, is that good chicken?" (ok - like the dessert conversation he is now apparently done with the God conversation so we're moving on.)

Alex eats dinner quite well when you ignore him. As soon as you start talking to him (as Ethan just did), he loses all interest in dinner and is ready to entertain. He continued the conversation all by himself at this point - babbling and laughing with Ethan. I had to tell Ethan a few times to eat so he could have dessert. About halfway into the multiple conversations, I had realized I would be blogging about this tonight. Partly because it was really cute but also to explain that it dawned on me why it takes Ethan so long to eat dinner. He is too busy socializing to eat. He has your undivided attention because all you are doing is eating so he can get some good QUALITY talk time in and he is quite the chatterbox as I've mentioned. I have the sneaking suspicion Alex will be the same way when he can really talk instead of babble & grunt. But the conversation wasn't done at that point.

Nope - we just went full circle... E: "Mama, you make weally good dinna. Dis is dust yummy." To prove his point he picked up a fistful of rice and shoveled it in and licked his fingers. I didn't complain about not using a fork because he HAD been using the fork and honestly this got a bigger bite in his mouth and sped up the process. Alex did allow me to feed him a couple more bites of rice and most of his chicken between bursts of laughter and babbling with his brother. Ethan said one more time, "Owix, isn't dis good dinna." Alex shook his head "yes." Such sweet boys and such nice dinner conversation - even if it was all over the map.