I'm always amazed by them.

Ever since YaYa became one of the speaking members of our family (it seems that it always consists of speaking members and non-speaking members, although the only non-speaking member right now is the Leaf Baby... and the rats, I guess) she and Kid A have found the strangest things to argue about. They really can argue about anything and everything. Listening to them argue makes me want to lock myself in a sound-proof box, it is the step up from whining, the one that showed itself right after I said that whining was the most annoying thing I'd ever heard. Arguing is worse, particularly because it usually culminates in shrieking from YaYa.

It can be pretty amusing, though.

Yesterday we were all sitting on the couch, and YaYa was staring dreamily out of the window. (If I wrote in YaYa's dialect you wouldn't be able to understand a thing, so I'll write as if she speaks with more than two consonants.)

YaYa: That's Mama's sky and Daddy's sky and Leaf's sky and Yaya's sky and Kid A's sky!

(I'm thinking here, how beautiful! What a sweet girl I have. You always wonder about what your kids are going to say when they finally start talking. And then YaYa says something pretty like that. We can only see the tiniest glimpse of it through the window, too, since our trees are so, so tall.)

Kid A: IT'S NOT OUR SKY!!!

YaYa: IT IS OUR SKY!!! IT'S Mama's and Daddy's and Leaf's and Yaya's and Kid A's.

Kid A: NO IT'S NOT!!!

YaYa: (Bloodcurdling sound that shouldn't be heard within a closed space because of the danger to the baby's eardrums. Not to mention the rats.)

Me: Kid A, it is kind of our sky. And kind of not, too. Besides, she can say that if she wants to.

Kid A: It's NOT. It shouldn't be our sky. It shouldn't be. (Are you getting a picture of Kid A's personality, here? This is the kid who says that he loves getting shots at the doctor, but falls apart if we put on our clothes before we eat breakfast.)

YaYa: IT IS OUR SKY!!! (More blood curdling ensues.)

Me: Okay, kids, we are NOT TALKING ABOUT THE SKY ANYMORE.

Kid A: (whispering) It's not ours.

YaYa: SHRIEK!!

Me: NO MORE SKY.

Do you see what I'm saying here? About the soundproof room? Maybe I could just invent some kind of soundproof head. I could walk around with my soundproof head all day and smile all the time, because I can't hear the madness.