Up

We saw the new Pixar movie, Up, tonight with Brad and his daughter, Emma, who live across the street. Charlie really enjoyed the movie, but he has a few lessons to learn about being quiet in a movie theater. Everything that came on the screen, he felt the need to describe again... out loud. If there were clouds on the screen, he'd use his outside voice to explain, "Clouds!!!" I found this to be comedic and endearing and clearly blog-worthy, but Mike thought we should explain that it's respectful to be quiet...

But Charlie's a thinker. And he hasn't yet pieced together in his adorable head the reasoning as to why one would want to be quiet in a public theater. Therefore, the shushing of his comments only lasted a few minutes before he'd forget his manners and go back to his loud chatter.

So you can understand the irony when, only a few minutes into the movie, a woman sitting behind us found a scene to be quite funny and she laughed very loudly... Charlie turned around abruptly and said, "Hey lady! Would you please stop laughing!? I can't hear the movie!!"

She did not find that to be as funny as I did...

On our drive back home, Mike and Brad, both engineers for oil companies, began a discussion about the oil drill in the field across from our neighborhood. (Yes, you read that correctly... there is a large oil rig in the field across the street. The family that used to have a cow pasture struck black gold... and has traded up for a giant, well-lit oil rig. What can I say... it's Texas.)

Anyway, in their nerdy discussion about it's operation, the two five year old's little ears perked up in the backseat... and the conversation sounded a little like this:

Brad (referring to the oil rig): It reminds me of the coker that I used to work on with one unit down at the refinery.

Emma: Daddy, you make Coke!?

Brad: No Emma, that doesn't mean we make alot of Coca-Cola. It's a different kind of coke, like ground up coal.

Charlie: Kohl's!? I love that store!

Ha ha ha!

Tech Junkie

My five year old child has lived his whole life in a world of technological advancement. He has never known a day without cell phones, computers, iPods, digital HD cable, DVDs, handheld video games... heck, he can fully operate our DVR beacause in this day and age, you don't have to miss your favorite morning tv show just because your parents need to get to work.

Most recently he has become tech savvy with our iPhones: those irresistable multi-media gadgets that go everywhere mom and dad go. Anywhere access to games, movies, music and the big favorite - YouTube. Like his dad, Charlie's perfectly content to stream video for hours. He even knows the difference between my older iPhone that runs on the Edge network and Mike's which is on the vastly superior 3G network. The difference being the download speed. For those of you who own an iPhone, you know that there is a loading period for your YouTube videos and acquired applications. Well, for five year olds... a loading period lasts a lifetime... and without a WiFi connection or in a spotty 3G zone, forget about it!!

Needless to say, Charlie has learned that sometimes you just have to wait for things to load.

And maybe you're wondering where I am going to get a Charlie-ism from this...

Well, this past weekend, we traveled to Austin for Mike's graduation. On Thursday morning, Charlie and I met my mom, my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and niece in the hotel restaurant for breakfast. Charlie tugged on my shirt and announced that a bathroom visit was necessary. I followed him down the hall and we made our way into the ladies room. I got him settled and standing in front of a toilet, pants down, all ready to go... and then I waited. Finally, I asked Charlie, "Do you really need to go? Where's the pee-pee?"

Without a hitch, he replies, "It's loading..."