Originally written 05/14/10

(Author: Sarah)

As I have a wee bit of time while the attorneys are talking settlement, I thought I would tell the incredible story of how a four-year-old out witted a shrewd, perspicacious adult. 
  So the other day I came home from work, and the three munchkins were watching a movie.  Now, when the TV is on, they become soulless, unaware beings.  They have the same look on their face as the gelflings in the Dark Crystal when they are getting their life essence drained from them by the Skeksis.  AndWilliam detests being interrupted.  So, of course, I came in and sat down next to him with a big plop and started talking, or in his opinion, harassing him.  It went something like this, [said in the voice of Dee Dee from the TV show Dexter‘s Laboratory]:
“Hi, William! Whatcha doing, William? Did you miss me, William? What did you do today? Hi, William! Hi, William! Hi! Hi! Hi!” And so on and so on, all the while trying to block is view of the TV.  So - and this is why I love to harass William. He gets so easily flustered and in a tizzy - he keeps telling me to stop and be quite. “Sarah! I’m trying to watch my movie.  Sarah, look!  The Princess and the Frog is on!  Sarah, be quite!”  So I, in the same tone as before, told him I didn’t know how to be quite. “How do you do that, William?  I don’t know how to be quite.  How do you be quite?” 
  Finally, William focuses his entire attention on me.  He gets up and stands in front of me, his hands akimbo.  And this is the exchange that took place next:
W: Sarah, this is how you be quite: Repeat after me. 
S: Repeat after me.
W: ……………….
            Nothing.  William closed his lips tightly for four to eight seconds, which, when you
            think about it, is actually quite a long time.  Especially pathetic is the fact that it took me 
            about four seconds to realize what he was doing.  Ah! Very clever, William!
W: That is how you be quite, Sarah.
 
  I was just so impressed with him that I gave him a hug and let him watch the rest of the movie in peace and, what I had recently learned how to do, quite.That boy is very astute.  I was just so dumbfounded by that quick thinking and ingenious solution he came up with.  It’s actually scary how much he knows.  In just a few years, I am quite sure he will know more than me, which is somewhat intimidating though perhaps not all that impressive.