My children continue to amaze me every day with their intelligence and humor. I wanted to share a few recent things that occurred in my house that made me realize that my kids are both witty and smart.
We had lunch today after church at Serrano's, which is a Mexican restaurant which has always had consistently good food and service, at a reasonable price. My son ordered the grilled cheese with fries, but when our waiter brought this dish out, there was a pile of lettuce, pickles, and tomatoes on the plate next to the sandwich itself. You must understand that vegetables are anathema to my son, and they may actually bring tears on occasion. I swiftly removed the pile of offensive food matter and wiped the plate with a napkin to remove any traces of pickle juice.
He seemed content enough, then later I looked over and realized that he had spit part of it out onto the plate. If you are not a parent, I apologize for this image. If you are a parent, I make no apologies, as you should be able to handle this part.
I asked the waiter to bring us another one and I would pay for it (he didn't charge me). This one was completely vegetable-free, so my wife Pam jokingly said, "Hey Brandon, your vegetable soup is coming soon. Wouldn't you love to have a nice cup of vegetable soup with your sandwich?"
Brandon promptly and (somewhat loudly) retorted, "Help! My parents are brain-sucking aliens!!"
After we had a good and extended family laugh, Pam said,
"I think a more appropriate response would have been ‘No, thanks. I don't want any vegetable soup right now."
Clearly, offering vegetable soup to my son is probably somewhat akin to offering him a warm cup of dog food. Yes, we are indeed twisted in our humor.
And then there's my older daughter....
My six-year old daughter Aleah did two things this week that made me realize that she is just plain smarter than I am.
I was trying unsuccessfully to close one of her computer games, by trying the "ESCAPE" key and CTRL-ALT-DEL. She said, "Are you trying to get out of that?" 
"Yes, I am."
"You have to do control-alt-escape," which she did for me.
"Um....thanks, Aleah."
Later, I mentioned this to my wife assuming that she had taught her, but I was mistaken. She just figured it out on her own, probably by trial and error? Yikes!
The other day, Aleah was working on a puzzle, and Pam said, "Great job!"
Aleah casually stated: "I put these two puzzles together and perfectly tessellated them into a stripe."
"Tessellated?!"
WHAT???
She learned this word while studying art mosaics. Here is a definition I found if you (like me) didn't know this word at all:
To tessellate a surface is to cover it with shapes without leaving any gaps. In mosaics, surfaces are often tesselated with irregular shapes fitted closely together.
So, my daughter is clearly going to soon surpass my own vocabulary and skill sets, while my son is probably the funniest kid I have been around.
Thanks for taking a minute to read my kid stories. If you liked these, you can check out my collection of previous posts about them here:
My Kids' Greatest Hits - A Collection of All Posts About My Children
If you enjoyed this post, why not connect with me elsewhere or subscribe via email?
If you're looking for a home in the Austin area, you can also visit my primary Austin real estate website at www.austintexashomes.com. If you're interested in social media training, visit 210 Consulting. Thanks!
Jason, Tessellate from a six year old? I definitely did not know that when I was six. Actually it was more like. "See Spot run with Dick and Jane." She will probably definitely surpass our vocabulary and our math too.
It is amazing what kids know these days. THEY ARE SMART!!!
Nice Story
LISA - Yes, tessellate. I was shocked that she used it correctly, especially since she hadn't heard it for awhile.
LINDA - I know, right? She's a sharp one!
DONNA - I hadn't heard it either! I saw a picture of Alyssa on your blog the other day and I meant to comment, but I got sidetracked. I know that you are enjoying her!
DANNY - I agree with your comment wholeheartedly.
My daughter just completed a project on tessellation in her Honors Math Analysis class. I didn't know what she was talking about, but it turned out real purty.
I think your son and my son would have some fine dinner conversation. Yes, the 18 year old.
MARGARET - They are some fun days. I try to enjoy them now, and I'm sure I will enjoy looking back on this time as well. Thanks for your perspective!
ELAINE - I guess the thing that intrigues/worries me is that they seem like little teenagers now in some ways. Your comment about your son made me laugh. Thanks, gem!
Hello Jason,
Kids are so smart and funny! I just do not think we were that smart when we were coming along. My just turned 4 year old is a whiz on the computer at Disney Playhouse.
JAN - I agree completely. They are really, really smart. I wish that fast food didn't even exist sometimes.
KATERINA - Thanks for saying that. I think of it that way myself.
Jason:
It is true you are a brain sucking Alien. How else do you explain your addiction to vegatables and AR., Ha. That was funny stuff. Wait until you see my next Post.
Jason,
Can you ever tire of hearing 'kid stories'??? Sounds like you have a real genius on your hands with Aleah!!! Thqanks, Fran
I knew I was in trouble when my daughter counter-offered me when she was four years old.
I used to tell her, "you must eat 2 chicken nuggets and 5 french fries before you can go on the playland."
One day, she responded, "how about 3 chicken nuggets and 2 french fries??"
Close enough, I thought, then said, "Okay!"
Tessellated??? I am so glad you ended up including the definition, because the first thing I thought of when I read that word was "here I go again, looking something up on www.dictionary.com ".
It never ceases to amaze me what the kids are learning now. My 9th grader is already through Algebra and I didn't even think about that until college. My daugther is like yours and uses all these words (coorectly) that I haven't even heard. All I can say is good luck and hope they don't need help with homework b/c we're out of luck.
Bonnie
TheHomeInspectorsWife
I really enjoy the post about your kids, they are great.
Jason, the things that come out of their mouth can at times be funny, embarrassing and make you go Hmmmmmm! I tried for the longest time to get my daughter to turn her lights and T.V. off, when she left her room. Never worked, no matter how much I drilled it in her head. The other day, we were leaving the house and she started turning everything off in the house. I thanked her for finally listening to mommy. Her reply was "If you had told me that we were wasting Fossil Fuel, then I would've understood why you kept wanting me to turn it off"! WHAT??????
One other story.....She was in class one day, when she decided to tell everyone that her dad likes to tuck his shirt in his pants, pull the pants up to his chest and run around the house flapping his arms all around. He's the Dad that volunteers to read to the class at least 5 times a year. Funny but embarrassing!
Jason...My face is going to be red if my kids don't know this word. They are 47, 43, and 40.
Shameful mother. I probably failed them.
Kathleen
Jason- Now if you could only figure out how to control-Alt-esc the veggies from your sons dinner plate at a restaurant y'all would be all set!
Come to think of it - "tessellated"...what exactly are y'all feeding those kids?! :o)
Jackie