Marriage...

I need to start writing down more of the things the boys say cause they really crack me up. Usually, at night, they each pick a book, and after we've read those, and a bit from the kids' Book of Mormon and after they've fought over who gets to say the prayer, then the three of us all lay in Lincoln's bed in the dark and snuggle and sing songs before they get a kiss and sent off to sleep. Bennett always chooses the Rainbow Song. Not sure what the actual title is but you know the one. And Lincoln rotates between "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam", "Book of Mormon Stories", and "Once there was a Snowman", and more often than not, he tries to get me to sing all three. We sang our songs and as we laid there, somehow the topic of marriage came up. I tried to explain what I could about marriage. I told Lincoln that when he gets big and tall like daddy, he can find a girl and get married and have a family. He asked me, 

"What girl, mom?"

"I don't know, you'll have to choose a girl". 

"What's her name?"

"I don't know, I haven't met her yet, you'll have to tell me". 

"Oh. I'm going to marry Alice"

"That's good".

"Alice will be my FAVORITE girl". 

Then Benny chimes in:

"Can I get 'marry' too?"

"Yes you can, but you have to wait till you're big and tall".

Lincoln says, "What girl is Benny going to find"? 

"I don't know, we'll have to see". 

Then Bennett says, "Is daddy going to watch?"

"Yes, daddy and I will come watch you get married".

"Oh," says Lincoln "Will you come watch me too? and Benny too?"

"Yes, I will, and daddy and Ben-Ben will come too, and you'll wear a handsome suit and the girl you marry will wear a pretty white dress..."

Then Lincoln takes over, "...and there will be flowers, and everyone will take pictures of us". 

(HOW DOES HE KNOW THAT???)

Then he squealed, and announced, "I'm so excited!!!" 

Then Lincoln went quiet for a while while Bennett asked me, 

"Mom, who did you get 'marry'?"

"Mommy got a pretty white dress and flowers and mommy married daddy. I'm daddy's favorite girl". 

"OH!!!", they both said.

Then after a little bit of thought, Lincoln said in a somewhat frustrated and put-out tone, "But I don't know how to get big!!!"

I told him, "Well, you have to eat good food, and exercise and then you'll be big and strong". 

He brightened up and started listing things he'll do by himself when he's big, "...I'll wash my hands (probably rejoicing in the unaided aspect of it), and I'll help people (glad to hear that)..."

Then we went through all the couples they know... "Who did grandma marry?"

"Grandpa!!"

"Who did Nick marry?"

"'Negen'!!!"

Then we talked about how Laura has a baby in her tummy and that after you get married, you can have a baby. Bennett asked me if Laura "has milk", cause he knows probably too much about nursing. Then he asked me if he had milk, and I said, no, only mommies have milk. Then Lincoln informed me,

"I want three babies. I want a girl baby". 

I said, "Me too". 

And that was that. That is marriage... you grow big and tall, find your favorite girl, wear a suit, have flowers, people take pictures of you, then you have babies, and mommies have milk. The end.

p.s. Moments like that really make me love being a mom. 

p.p.s. It's really weird to imagine my sweet little smiley baby boys with soft cheeks and curly hair growing up to be burly men, off to find their favorite girls. Good thing it happens slowly.