We went to the Children’s Museum this morning and stopped at Subway for lunch afterwards. Andy was in costume (like I even have to say).

Andy had the following conversation with the family at the next table:

Andy: Hi! Do you know who I am?

Woman: No.

Andy: I’m Andy. I’m Andy-slash-Superman.

A few minutes later the father came to the table with the family’s food.

Andy: Hi! Do you know who I am?

Woman: He’s Andy-slash-Superman.

Man: Andy/Superman? Hi, I’m Jeremy/Batman. [Note: Jeremy/Batman did not pronounce the "slash."]

When I picked up Andy from “camp” this afternoon, he asked for a snack from the vending machine. I said it would depend on what he wanted and how much it cost. He didn’t know the name of the snack he wanted, but he described as “the chocolate snack at E-circle-circle.” He was nowhere near the machine when he said that, but he was right: the Little Debbie Nutty Bars were E8.

As we were driving home we were talking about pretzels. I mentioned that sometimes you can get soft pretzels with mustard, which I thought he wouldn’t like, or soft pretzels with cheese sauce, which I thought he would. He said, “Oh, yeah! Like they have at Edgewater!” We went to the Edgewater hotel in Duluth in November…of ’07.

I commented that he has a good memory. He replied, “Yeah, I told you I have a memory like an elephant. There are parts of my brain that are like an elephant’s brain and parts that are like a human’s brain. And they’re mixed together!”

He pulled out one last surprising memory on the ride home. We were talking about the Children’s Hospital and the time we took him there in the middle of the night for a bad ear infection…which was right after the Edgewater trip. He didn’t seem to remember much about that emergency room visit, until I mentioned that he was also throwing up. That triggered a memory, and he commented…and don’t read any further if you’re easily grossed out…”Oh yeah! That’s the time my throw-up had little noodles in it!”

“Sarah, I hate you. Well, I hate you a little, but I still like you too. Don’t be mad that I told you I hate you because I only hate you a little. I hate you about one percent. That’s not very much to hate someone.”

Thor helped us decorate the Yule tree last week.

And on top of the tree he put the star that his alterego Andy had decorated at school.

Andy’s kindergarten class learned about a wide array of winter holidays, including–but not limited to–Santa Lucia Day, Diwali, and Hmong New Year.

Christmas Eve was a day off school and work for Andy and Sarah, so we went to Eagle’s Nest–in costume, naturally.

Christmas day provided even more opportunities for dressing up: that’s a pair of Iron Man PJs (from Santa–Claus, that is, not Lucia) under knight garb (from Grandma & Boompa).

Andy: How does Santa’s magic work?

Sarah: I do not know, how do you think it works?

Andy: He probably drinks a magic elixir, that gives him his powers.

“You know where I wish I were? Oregon. If I had fairies I’d wish to go to Oregon.”

“You know how hot this shirt is? Fahrenheit hot! Fahrenheit hot means it’s super roasting.”

Andy: Sarah! Come see this awesome commercial!

TV: Ch-ch-ch-chia!

“Forky, old buddy, I am so, so sorry. I will never drop you again.”

Calvin: I don’t understand how Santa runs his operation. How can he afford to give toys away? How does he pay for the raw materials he uses to make the toys? How does he pay his elves? There’s no income to cover his costs. How does he do it?

Hobbes: Deficit spending, I guess.

Calvin: Sure, but sooner or later it’s going to catch up to him, and then where will I be?

Andy: Well when Calvin’s dead, he’ll be buried in a graveyard.