Imagine that!

I tease the kids at work often.
They tease me, too.

When Colin asks for breakfast in the mornings, I sometimes stop mid-prep and say, "Hey. Wait a minute...  Didn't I feed you yesterday?"

He puts on a wide-eyed innocent face.
"No, I don't think you did. Musta been some other kid."

"Oh come on now... I'm pretty sure it was you."

"No, really! I have never eaten here!"

"Well, I'll feed you this time, but I'll remember. You won't be able to get away with this one again!!"

We've done that one more than once. Other kids have gotten into the joke, too. Will asked me for cereal on Monday, and when I turned from the cupboard to ask him which kind of cereal he wanted, he said quickly, "I have never eaten cereal here before!"

::snicker::

Another one they all get into is, "Are you using your imagination?"

The answers to that one vary.

"Yes, and you can't make me stop!"

"No! I never use my imagination!"

"Imagination? What's that?"

I occasionally challenge them with, "What if you use your imagination so much that you run out of it?"

They think it's great. They even prompt the discussion sometimes, calling to me from the art table or the LEGO rug, "Hey Susan... I'm using my imaginationnnnn!"

I play along.
"But Hayden! Aren't you afraid you'll use it all up?"

"Nope. That can never happen. I have a LOT of it!"

It's just one of the things we joke about. We really are like a family in many ways, and those little inside jokes are part of that.

So this afternoon, Esme was drawing pictures at the art table. A little later, she made one of the mosaic projects we had as our activity for the afternoon. When we were down to two kids, she was sitting at my table building a little house for our stuffed moose out of LEGO.

I said, "You've been using your imagination all afternoon, Esme. Aren't you afraid you'll use it up? If you don't have an imagination, then what will you be?"

"A lawyer." she answered instantly.