locomomo

Copyright 2025 locomomo.com

Overheard in the locker room

By

Milo chatting up a very patient elderly gentleman in the JCC locker room after his swimming lesson…

Milo: “What are you doing here?”
Older Man: “I’m getting dressed.”
M: “Why?”
OM: “I’m getting ready to go home.”
M: “I’m going home too. Look how wrinkly my hands are. Hey your hands are wrinkly, did you go swimming?”
OM: “No, my hands are just old.”
M: “What’s that?”
OM: “My cane.”
M: “What’s a cane?”
OM: “It’s like a walking stick, it helps me walk.”
M: “Why do you need help walking?”
OM: “I have a bum knee.”
M: “You have a bum knee?!?!” (incredulously)
OM: “I have a bad knee, my knee is hurt.”
M: “You should go see a doctor.”
OM: sigh “Yes, I’ve been told that.”

What does avoid mean?

By

We were singing one of our favorite bedtime songs tonight and Milo asked me what the word “avoid” means (it comes up quite a bit in the lyrics “…sometimes I think, that you’re avoiding me…”.

We talked about it for a bit and then Milo asked a follow up question.

“Can babies climb trees?”

Not sure where this was going, I said, “no probably not”.

To which Milo replied, “well I can climb trees, so if I want to avoid the baby, I’ll just climb a tree!”

Milo vs. the Calculator

By

Things have gotten very competitive around here lately. Milo takes great pleasure in doing things first…like opening the car door first. And zipping his zipper first. And he’s always very quick to point it out to me when he’s “beaten” me. This is kind of confounding. Like I’m even competing…

Tonight while I was making dinner Milo told me:

Dad, I think I can beat the calculator…

Good luck with that Milo…

Warriors

By

Rachel recently pulled out a checkers and chess set and we’ve been playing 4-year-old variants of both games. The rules are very dynamic, so you have to stay on your toes. For example, this evening we were in the middle of playing “chess” when Milo suddenly announced that he could go forwards and backwards but I wasn’t allowed to move my pieces anymore…

I still managed to pull off a victory, but that story is for another post.

At one point Milo asked me about the horse pieces and I explained that they were called knights. Predictably he asked me what knights were and I said that they were “warriors” who traveled around on horseback looking for other knights to battle with swords and lances.

He thought about this for a second and asked if they were called “worriers” because they were worried about killing other people.

Occupy Providence

By

Milo at Occupy Providence

Milo at Occupy Providence

What’s that group who doesn’t care about the people? Oh yeah, the government. First we yelled at the government. Then we made signs. Then we marched down to the state house until it got dark and then we came home for dinner.

– Milo telling me how he spent his evening (we often talk about our day as part of the bedtime routine).

Rachel and Milo participated in the first day of Occupy Providence this evening. Milo came with us to vote at the last presidential election in 2008 and Rachel claims to have felt Milo’s first kick in utero during a speech by activist Van Jones…so we may have budding protester in the family.

Dad, do you know what smells like dog poo?

By

Milo: Dad, do you know what smells like dog poo?
Me: Huh?
Milo: Daaad, do you know what smells like doggggg poooo?
Me: I don’t know.
Milo: Come on, guess!
Me: Ummm, dog poo?
Milo: That’s good daddy – good guess!

I need some cleaners dad!

By

I’ve been working on building a bed frame for Rachel and I (yes for the first time in about 5 years we’re going to have a real bed!) and Milo has been helping out. We’ve been having a lot of discussions about “hardware” – bolts, nuts, washers – and tools. The other day I cut up some pieces of wood for him, drilled some holes, and provided a handful of hardware for him to play and build with.

Except I omitted some key components to his pile of materials.

Milo came rushing back after I gave him everything and said:

I need some cleaners dad!!!

I couldn’t figure out what he was talking about and for a couple of minutes he tried to describe what he needed. I finally realized he wanted washers.

Washers -> cleaners
Cleaners -> washers

##