My kids never fail to amaze me. I love that everyday I get to have a hoo-ha-ha moment, you know the kind of unexpected dose of humor that works like a shot in the arm when you’re feeling sick, and after you get it, instantly you feel better? Imagine getting this dose when you’re not even sick to begin with, and you’re in laughtime heaven!

My kids give me huge doses of laughter. Every. Single. Day. They come up with the funniest statements. Sometimes I’m afraid my mouth will resemble that of a donkey from all the laughter they manage to pull out of me at the slightest provocation. I also wonder: do I think they’re hilarious because they’re my kids? because I’m really a silly fool who’ll laugh at the simplest things? because I’m cheap when it comes to laughing? 😀 😀 😀 Who cares? Laughter never hurt anyone, right?

In the past 24 hours I was lucky enough to get two Hoo-Ha-Ha’s from my 5-year-old son:

HOO-HA-HA #1: 

Last night, I had a terrible grumbly, roller-coaster-riding tummyache. I was telling my son J how strange my tummy felt, wondering aloud in that stream-of-thought way.

Then he said: Mama, maybe you have saran-san.

Me: Huh?

J:   I said, maybe you have saran-san!

Me: Saran-san? Huh? (feeling like overnight I became a dope and my son became my all-knowing wise parent)

J:   Yes, saran-san! Remember?

Me:   (struggling, thinking-frown creases on forehead) – Saran-san?…??? 😯

J:   Yes, Mama, saran-san. You remember, you said before that Jm (our 20-month-old baby) had saran-san!

Me:   Jm? Saran-san? Huh? (Great. Now I’ve sunk even further, becoming a neanderthal from the Ice Age, unable to comprehend the simplest concepts)

J:   Yes, Mama. (trying hard to make me understand, as I grow in admiration for my son’s incredible patience with his totally lost-in-space mom) You said last week that you were giving Jm medicine for his saran-san… you said maybe he ate something bad, so he had saran-san.

Me:   (slapping forehead and resisting urge to shout Eureka) OOOOOH!! Sirang tiyan you mean!!! YEAH!!!

Sirang tiyan in the Filipino language translates to bum stomach. Obviously I need to teach my son the language soon.

HOO-HA-HA #2

Today, as we were driving to school, I happened to look out the car window and lo and behold, in front of me was a large poster of the juiciest hamburger on the wall of a restaurant (it didn’t help, perhaps, that it was lunchtime) .

I told J:   Look! Do you see that burger! That must be the yummiest-looking burger in the world!

J:   (craning his neck) Where?

Me:   There! (pointing to the wall) See? On the wall of the restaurant!

J:   Oh yeah! I see! It DOES look yummy, Mama! … (thoughtful pause. And then…) But you know Mama, when you get the burger in real life, it doesn’t look as yummy anymore.

Yep, that’s my son. All grown up at 5 years of age. Already aware of the vast divide between marketing ploys and the real thing.

Where do these kids get this, this innate wisdom of theirs? 😀