The Deken Zoo

The nightly routine with Ryan tends to vary from time to time. For a while, it was just a hug and a kiss and a “goodnight.” Then he saw the “Frankencelery” VeggieTales, and (like Justin) it turned into this:

Me: “I love you, little Mister.”
Ryan: “I love you, big Mister.”
Me: “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Ryan: “All right.” (or “I’ll see you in the morning.”)
Me: “Night night!”
Ryan: “Night night!”

Then he decided we should ‘tease’ by repeating the last word of every line, so it became, for example, “I love you, little Mister Mister.” We did that for about a week, and one night he broke out with this:

Me: “I love you, little Mister Mister.”
Ryan: “I love you, potato.”
Me: “… I’ll see you in the morning morning.”
Ryan: “I’ll see you in the morning, swingset.”
Me: “Night night night.”
Ryan: “Night night, lampshade.”

He insisted I tease with him like this, so we did that for about a week, coming up with new silly names to call each other every night.

Now he’s settled us down into the following sequence:

Me: “I love you, french fry.”
Ryan: “I love you, salad.”
Me: “I’ll see you in the morning, cheese.”
Ryan: “I’ll see you in the morning, salad.”
Me: “Night night, McDonald’s.”
Ryan: “Night night, salad.”

I don’t know what to make of the fact that he calls me ’salad’ constantly.

VeggieTales are the new obsession for my kids.  We watch them over and over and over… If you don’t believe me, just hang out with Ryan for a little while.  He’s likely to either sing you a song from one of the shows, or recite the dialogue – with his dad.

Tonight we were watching one we’d never seen, called “An Easter Carol.”  It teaches the story of Easter (though oddly it never mentions Jesus’s name).  Near the end of the story, Ryan says out loud – to no one in particular – “I love Jesus.” 

Yeah, okay, I got teary.

A few Saturdays ago, we were all hanging out in the kitchen after lunch.  It was time for Alyssa’s nap, so Stephen and I were having a cuddle with her in the threshold from the kitchen to the living room.  Kisses were had, hugs were given.  I was tickling her and she was giggling.

As Stephen turned to take her upstairs, I turned back to the kitchen… Just in time to see Ryan at the door to the pantry, a bottle of Hungry Jack Lite syrup rising to his lips.

The most I could do was gulp “UH!” as I doubled over in laughter.  He jumped about a foot in the air and looked at me sheepishly, the syrup bottle hovering a few inches from his mouth. 

We now store the syrup on the top shelf.