I LOST MY NOISE!

Everyday is so entertaining with my family....So the kids love playing this game they call the QUIET GAME...Mark and I love it too because we get some peace then. So, almost every night at dinner they want to play. After the first time we said 'no' because someone would cry or have a tantrum when they lost which defeated the whole purpose for the quiet game....But recently we have been playing again..The winner usually gets to stay up 10 extra minutes and maybe gets an extra piece of Halloween candy. (BTW...my method is to immediately take the candy put it in baggies, label them and put them in a basket really high...everyday if they are good they get one piece, while at school I take out numerous pieces and redistribute it (no obama jokes okay..ha) to another baggie and use it as the filler in the christmas stockings)...SO..back to the quiet game. Last night Jared and Grace were the winners. They were quiet for 2 hours. Ethiopian children can be so deadpan forever..i know it isn't just my kids because I have seen it with grown Ethiopian friends of mine...Anyhow, it got to the point where I gave both of them an extra 10 minutes for winning. SO, i know Jared can be quiet for 2 whole hours. Samantha on the other hand was the type of child that we were really worried about. She could not keep her mouth shut for anything. One time Mark and I looked at eachother and we both said "if she was kidnapped and the guy said 'stay quiet or you die' she would still not be able to be quiet"

At school there is the dreaded YELLOW PAPER..You get a YELLOW PAPER sent home if you are bad. Today Jared got the YELLOW PAPER from the music teacher. He has music for 25 minutes a week. The note said "Jared couldn't be quiet for even 3 minutes." Jared was punished and not allowed his one piece of candy and then sat quiet because of his anger for 50 minutes....This just boggles my mind. I am tempted to tell the music teacher to tell Jared she would like to play the quiet game in class....instead he can't stay quiet for 5 minutes in class but he has the ability to win the quiet game and be in silence for 2 hours at home with the reward being just 10 extra minutes awake....

Along the same lines we have had minor colds running from kid to kid..Nothing major..but today Ella woke up and with a hoarse voice said "I LOST MY NOISE"....I kept saying "Your voice?" She yelled hoarse "NO MOM..I LOST MY NOISE." I thought her sentence was appropriate and laughed when she said it....after a few times trying to say ""VA VA VOY SSSSSS" She once again said "NO MOM...MY NOISE...I LOST MY NOISE." Sometimes it is really nice when they lose their noise.....