So many questions, so little time

Poor Robert; it's hard being six. And poor Elizabeth; it's hard having a little brother. And poor Colleen, who sits between the two. Yesterday was a non-stop kind of day for us. Not so much running around doing errands, but constant doing stuff around the house.

Robert was "on" all day. Finally, on the way back from tae kwon do Elizabeth had had enough. "Can't you stop talking for just a minute?! It's so annoying!" Colleen chimes in, "Yeah, it's annoying Robert."

Robert very seriously answered, "But I have so many questions and I need to know the answers."

He also got to sit in on Elizabeth's tae kwon do class. So far he's been with the under 6 crowd. He did really well in his first traditional class. He worked hard to keep up with the much higher ranking belts. Afterward he said "That was hard." His instructor tried to put a positive spin on it by saying "Challenging huh?" Robert was not to be swayed, "Yeah challenging but also very hard."

It's difficult to quote Robert without using all italics because he emphasizes everything.

Sweet home, Chicago

Yeah, no, it's not my home, but here I am anyway. Ryan and I are in Chicago to meet with the guy who is going to be running D3soccer.com, and while we were here, we decided to take advantage of the opportunity to see the Twins play at New Comiskey Park.

The new name for that ballpark? Don't care. Stupid corporate names.

Twins lost. Long story. Not a good one. But on the way back, after the crowds of White Sox fans thinned out, ended up sitting across from a cute little almost-6-year-old boy on the El.

Kid was talking up a storm, noticed that Ryan and I were wearing Twins hats and suggested that we throw them away and get White Sox hats. My mantra to White Sox fans who bothered to give us a hard time on the way home was that it was just June and there was a lot of season left. (The Twins are .500 after this game.)

I told the kid, "You know, there are a hundred games left! Can you count to 100?"

He reported that he could; in fact, he could count to 300.

For some time I've been fairly good at figuring out kids' ages after observing to them, and that statement convinced me that this little boy was Robert's age. So I asked him if he was 5 or 6 and he told me he was turning six on June 15 and just graduated from kindergarten.

Even more like Robert.

The kid and I were talking, like a parent and a nearly-six-year-old can. He (I never got his name) was an only or oldest child, but he does have an 11-year-old female cousin whom he obviously wanted to be just like.

He said to me, "you have a thin face" and to Ryan, "you have a big face." Out of the mouths of babes, right, Ryan?

He was hispanic, but his parents apparently speak just English at home. Ryan was giving me a hard time on the train after that comment and I tried to speak Spanish to him to explain, he didn't understand.

During the conversation, the kid said he knows karate. His dad, a young guy, said, "No, it's not karate, right?"

Indeed, this was a little boy who turns 6 this month and does tae kwon do!

So I asked him what belt he was -- he's a white belt. We talked about what was next, and while we refer to it as the gold belt, he talked about the yellow belt. I asked him if he did the axe kick (which is the most basic one I know the name of) and he mentioned that the older kids can break boards. When I told him my little boy was a blue belt and could break boards, he was very impressed.

I reminded the kid that he had to focus and work hard, and he could do that too.

My battery died on my phone today. I was hoping Cate and the kids would call me from the Brennan family reunion in Pennsylvania, but perhaps they tried and couldn't get through. He'll have another round of birthday there, and I'll be back in D.C. on Sunday to hear all about it.

Miss you Robert. :)

Bugs in a rug

Finally quiet at the end of a crazy day. Cate painted the girls' room basically solo this morning and early afternoon, though each of the kids got to participate a little bit. I took the kids out of her hair, to Elizabeth's tae kwon do class and two Home Depots, before Cate left for work.

Since the girls' room isn't dry yet, and we won't know until tomorrow if it needs another coat, that means there are two displaced children tonight. We discussed various options but I thought it was best if Colleen slept in Robert's room. (Robert has been dying for a roommate.)

Surprisingly, once that was decided, Elizabeth decided she wanted to sleep there as well ... with Colleen ... in the same bed.

Now, I'm not dumb enough to try to put them all to sleep at the same time, so Elizabeth read in our bed while I read the younger two a book. And since we had to make a quick post-dinner trip to the store (stuff we need for Mother's Day), they were pretty tired already. In fact, the older two are sleeping in T-shirts and sweats. Colleen is wearing Dora, but at age 3, who cares if you're out in your PJs?

But seriously, I'm glad we have more than two bedrooms.