overheard

Ollie: Mum, I love you. I love you SO MUCH I think my brain is going to turn inside out.
(it was just after I gave him a Haigh's chocolate frog I brought back from Sydney)

Mandy Downes: why did dad put you in time out?
Max: because I punched him in the face.

After his first day of school:
Me: So, Ollie, did you miss your brothers?
Ollie: Yes… no wait... I mean no, not really.

Yesterday I overheard the boys very seriously categorising all the tracks from The Shins 'Chutes Too Narrow' into the genres 'Funky', 'Slow Motion' and 'Jackhammer'.

Hugo's favourite foods:
1.  Ketchup.

Max:  When can we get another bird?
Me: Soon, I hope.
Max: Shall we wait until the dogs have passed away?
Me: I hope to get one sooner than that
Max:  Or we could get a crow.

Ollie looked at me very intently for a couple of seconds today, before asking "mum, why is your skin slightly darker than everyone else's?"

Me:  You can't play video games all the time, you won't have any space for learning the good stuff.
Ollie:  Well, I don't want to go to school anymore.  School's cagey.
Me:  What do you mean?
Ollie:  It's a big cage, I'm trapped there, it's a big grassy field with a cage around it.  I just feel trapped there.

Ollie: Max, I'm building a digger, how does that make you feel?

Ollie:  Max, you know, being a snitch is good, its a bit like being a policeman:  you get to smack robbers with your smelting stick.

Max:  You shouldn’t share food
Me:  (a bit horrified because I’ve always said the opposite) Of course you should!
Max:  No, you shouldn’t share food (pause….) the teachers at kindy told me.
Me:  Well, they’re worried about sharing germs too, but if someone needs food, and you have it, you should share it with them
Max:  Yes, because they might not have any money and they might be charity
Me:  Yes, but mainly because if you have stuff and other people don’t, you share what you have.
Max: One time we were at the shops and you gave that charity man some money
Me:  Yes, because he needed it and I had some to share
Max: And he needed the money to buy stuff he needed, like food
Me:  Yes, that’s right, and he was spending it on things for other people too
Max:  Like toys?
Me:  Not so much toys, you don’t really need toys, you can play without toys, but he was collecting money to spend on things he needed, things other people needed
Max:  Like food.
Me:  Yes.
Max:  And coffee.  People need coffee.