No Way

Noah and Jonah both adore one of the staff members at their school. Lauren works a later shift, so while I'm at work and after many of their classmates have gone home, Noah and Jonah are in Lauren's (and Heidi's) expert care. And although the "school day" ends at 3-ish, kids learn a lot regardless of the hour. Jonah is a case in point.

Noah loves Lauren because she takes time to listen and reacts to his comments in a way that makes him feel important. The other day, as I was getting the boys' stuff together at the end of the day, Jonah was sitting in Lauren's lap when Noah went over to her to tell her something that, to him, was clearly very important.

"Lauren, do you know what?" Noah asked.

"No, what?"

"The Denver Broncos lost their championship, and the Pittsburgh Steelers won theirs, so the Steelers are going to the Super Bowl!" Noah said rather haltingly yet extremely excitedly.

"No way!" Lauren replied.

Immediately, Jonah piped up. "Noaaay!"

Apparently he'd never said that before. But he was happy to repeat it. "No way!" I said.

"Noaaay!" he said again in his hoarse soprano.

He's now been saying "No way" for about a week now, when prompted. Most amusingly, Noah will now sometimes say to Jonah, "Way!" and Jonah knows to respond, "Noaaay!" So, of course, Noah will repeat, "Way!" And suddenly I feel like I'm on the set of some very early prequel to Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

Ah, life with boys...