Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Sister For Sale

The other day I was talking to my father-in-law (who lives in another state, and who we rarely get to see), and finally mentioned to him that I have a blog. Funny that it's taken me so long to get around to giving him this info, since originally our far-away-family was one of the driving forces behind my intro to the blogging world three months ago. Because this blog is all about my kids, right? I mean, I do mention them at least every ten posts or so... Do you think that's enough to incite grandparent involvement? I'm not so sure.

I did, however, decide that I should probably take a moment to put up some fresh Baxter children info - just in case someone in the inlaw-fam actually decides to check out the old blog. So here goes:

Today I was in the living room with my kids. I think I was cleaning or something (because I never waste time doing anything else), when I saw Meara whack Conan over the head with a toy. The attack was provoked, but still.

I'm busy reprimanding my violent daughter, and I hear Conan say "Why'd we have to have Meara? We should sell her. *sob, sob*"

I was going to ignore this remark due to the head injury (and the fact that he learned it from his brothers, although in their version it's usually him up for sale), when he tacked on the next part:

"Maybe Grandma will buy her."

Well. This proactive approach got my attention. Besides that, it was way too funny to waste on just me, so I quickly say, "Why don't you call Grandma and ask her?" (I know. Great parenting Jen - you're kid wants to sell his sibling, and you jump on the bandwagon. Yes, there should have been some lecture, and maybe a chorus or two of "Families Can Be Together Forever," but I couldn't help myself).

So we call. I dial, hand him the phone, and listen in to the following conversation:

C: Gwaaamma, *sniff, sniff* (he's still recovering from the attack), ummm, will you buy Meara?

G: Buy Meara?

C: Yeah.

G: Well, I'd like to, but I don't think I have enough money.

C: Oh. Well, you can just have her then.


I'm not sure which is worse - his lack of devotion, or his bargaining skills. He didn't even bat an eyelash, or reconsider the price! He definitely needs that lecture. And the song.

In his defense, however, I would like to report that he and Meara do generally get along. They've been playing together a lot lately, and their favorite game is "Puppy". In this game Conan's the puppy, and she's the tyrannical/adoring puppy owner. It's one of my favorite kid-games to eves-drop on. I'll be in the kitchen, and I'll hear her in the other room:

"Pu-ppeeey, (in her most authoritative two-year-old-boss voice) COME HERE! Puppy, SIT DOWN! STAY!" (complete with hand gestures, and immediately followed by...)

"Awww, puppy (in her most adoring two-year-old-obsessed-with-cute-puppy voice, as she hugs and kisses the puppy), nice puppy."

It's all very cute to witness, I have to say.

And now I have one more story regarding Conan. I think Rusty's finally realizing just how much his little son actually worships him. First off, Conan obsesses over the fact that he looks just like his father. Which he does, minus the red hair. Seriously, he's like a little, blond, Rusty clone. But then the other day he took it to a new level of adoration.

Apparently (I wasn't here for this one), Rusty and Conan were talking, and somehow the subject of getting old and dying came up. Rusty's way more brave than me, because he jumped right into how someday "Mommy will get old and die, and Daddy will get old and die." Since the major source of my childhood anxiety was this exact issue, I'll do anything to get out of admitting these facts to my small children. But once the information was on the table, Conan took a moment to digest it and came up with the following:

"Whelp, Dad" (whelp being one of his staple sentence starters) "when I get old, I'm gonna put my arms around your neck like this," (picture cute-four-year-old arms around big-strong-Dad neck) "and we can die together."

So, I don't care if he wants to sell/give away his little sister. The kid is priceless.

17 comments:

McFarland Family said...

So cute. My children's grandparents are in no way interested in buying, or getting free, our kids.

LisAway said...

I totally hear you about the starting a blog to "keep up with family" and then always writing about your own deal, which none of them may even care about.

We had some friends, well one bossy friend, who would start singing, "There is beauty all around..." any time Greg and I started to disagree with each other or tease each other. Um, we didn't love it. Especially since she and her husband bickered (in a mean way) far more often than we did. I just hope your kids love the Families Can Be Together Forever thing more than we liked that one. I'm sure they do. Who wouldn't, really? :)

And I'm so glad to see a picture of you! And your kids sound adorable.

Kelly said...

I love the stories, what sweeties. I am totally going to teach my kids the puppy game. Yes, I know they are supposed to come up with those things on their own, but I think they inherited their mom's creative gene....oh, I mean, lack thereof!
I totally agree with your comment on my blog, by the way.

Natalie said...

I had already heard about the Conan / Rusty conversation but it was no less sweet the 2nd time around. He is a keeper.

Natalie said...

Oh, and I meant to tell you that I love the new profile pic & I'm assuming you gave Annie permission to do your bio this time. At least she said your butt looks good in jeans. LOL

*MARY* said...

If Grandma doesn't have enough money I'm sure you could sell her on etsy.

Randi said...

I'm with Mary. I would totally buy her on Etsy!
But I think your son has a real head for the entrepreneur thing. Maybe he could start with selling my dog.

Anonymous said...

Here it is "big Sis." I am officially responding on your blog. Mindy and I love reading your blog, also that other sister Annie's blog. It is one of our hobbies and time of enjoyment reading all the funny stories, memories, and such.

J. Baxter said...

STOP THE PRESSES!!!

Natalie, did you just say something about Annie and my bio??? Tell me she didn't write me a bio. She said NOTHING about writing a bio, and ONLY had permission to put up a picture!!!

It had better not be incriminating...

Camille said...

So nice to meet you..and thank you for leaving a comment on my blog, because I'm desperately seeking attention!
and regarding your previous post..I am one of 3 pianists in our ward...and I'm in Utah! Needless to say my husband is threating divorce if I leave him for another night to accompany someone that is preparing to sing a "special" number in church.

melissabastow said...

My kids also like the puppy game (sometimes it's the kitty game and sometimes I'm lucky enough for them all to pretend that they're babies.) And even though they haven't thought up the selling of a sibling thing on their own, I have -on a few occasions- threatened to sell one -or two- of them on Ebay. But I didn't think I could get enough for them to cover the complicated shipping costs (you know, cardboard box with airholes.)

Also, I like the profile picture - your lips seem so proportionate to the rest of you!

Barbaloot said...

Hilarious! I love that you went with your son's idea of selling his sister to get such a priceless story.

Alison Wonderland said...

the Princess regularly volunteers to go to the orphanage (I think she pictures it a little like the one in Annie) and she occasionally wants to get rid of her brothers but we've never had a well thought out plan like that.

Kelly said...

I don't know where to get a tutu like Kelsi's. We bought a huge box of dress up stuff and another huge box of those plastic shoes for Kelsi. I mean, you should see this stuff. I got like 4 tutus, Disney princess costumes (Belle, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty), hula costume, sequined costumes. It was the jack pot man! I wish I knew where they got that one. So cute, ironically, she actually had a hair tie that matched it perfectly. If I ever see one, I'll grab it for you. But you can check ebay.

LaDawn said...

We like to sing "Love at home" to our kids when they disagree.
I don't understand how they can continue to fight while hearing such a lovely song.

Kimberly Vanderhorst said...

Oh my...what a darling!

The Crash Test Dummy said...

I will totally buy her. My daughter has been begging for a sister for years.

That's a cute story.