Changing Minds

Oh the difference two years makes!

Today I asked my boys (7, 5, and almost 3) what they wanted to be when they grew up and why. Here are their answers, verbatim:

The Captain: "I want to be a police man." (His current aspiration is to be a hall monitor next year. He'd be great at it. He loves telling everyone the rules.) "Because I could catch bad guys and drive around in a car all day. I'd leave at 7 in the morning and come back at 7 in the night, because that is when my kids will go to bed."

"Wont you want to play with you kids before they go to bed?" I ask.

"Ya, maybe for a little while, but then they would HAVE to go to bed at 8."

The Adventurer: "I want to be a judge when I grow up."

"Really?" I ask. (He'd be a great judge, but I didn't know that he even knew what a judge was.) "Why?"

"Because I have a really good mind and I'm good at remembering stuff. And I really like my name, and people could say it a lot."

The Entertainer: "I want to be a policeman and a judge too!" (Of course he does. His original blog name was the Parrot. I think I changed it prematurely.)

"No," says the Adventurer. "Maybe you could be the President. Do you want to be the President?"

"Yes. I want to be the President of Florida Mommy."

There is a lull in the conversation as we eat our sandwiches.

And then the Entertainer pipes up again. "Actually, I want to be a dog from outer space and wear a helmet on my head. Can I be that Mommy?"

"Sure buddy. You would be a good outer space dog when you grow up."

He smiles, confident with the good choice he's made.

Lilly just smiles, and slams some more applesauce. Based on how much fun she has chewing on my shoes, she is either aspiring to be a footwear designer or a dog, like the Entertainer...