GRAND kids conversation with "Mrs. Moon"

   Brian and I got to drive Analyse and Elliot to Illinois a week ago Sunday. What a delightful trip it turned out to be!!!  See, at one point, while the sun was still hitting us ever so brightly (in big part due to us heading west), Mr. Elliot suddenly asked, "hey, why is the moon out already?!" He was looking out his side of the car as we were going around a bend. We gave him a couple of possibilities before he turned to the window and loudly asked, "Excuse me Mrs. Moon, why are you up already?". I chuckled and in a sort of different voice answered, "because it's later than you think Mr. Elliot. It's almost your bed time, but Mr. Sun is shining extra bright not wanting to go to bed tonight."

   That started a conversation that Brian and I agree easily lasted over an hour. Very possible that it was over two hours. It'd be going really strong for quite awhile, then due to something said, something else would be talked about, or, there would just be a  pause, either way, after a bit we'd again hear, "excuse me Mrs. Moon......."

   He questioned if I had any children. "I have a bunch of sons".  "What are their names?" My brain went blank. When we had hit the road, we had pulled away from our little family having a weekend gathering together. I had done all of the shopping for it on Fri.. My head was a mess, but there was no way I wanted to put a stop to a delightful conversation with these GRAND children!!! So just loud enough that Brian could hear me over the roar of the highway, I questioned Brian about the names of planets, hoping that either a) the kids wouldn't hear us, or b) due to the fun of it all, they'd ignore it. One of the two worked. ;-]. "The names of a couple of my sons are Saturn and Uranus". 

    "Excuse me Mrs. Moon, do your sons every do anything that gets them in trouble?" I chuckled. "Yes, they are typical children who often do such things".  "Excuse me Mrs. Moon, is one of your sons naughtier than the others?" Brian and I both chuckled. "Saturn gets in trouble a lot!"  "Excuse me Mrs. Moon, what does he do that gets him in trouble?". "Oh, sometimes he doesn't take care of his plate and stuff off the table (something we had been working on with all of the GRAND children that weekend). Sometimes he won't help pick up or clean up when he's told to." And several more examples were listed. But he kept re-asking that question. We decided later that it was something he could think of to ask, and he wanted the conversation to keep going. So did we!

    "Excuse me Mrs. Moon..." every single time he asked a question, whether I had just answered his previous one, or if  there had been a lull in the conversation, he always started with that.  So darn sweet, cute, fun!

    At one point, the name of the planet 'Pluto' got brought up. Elliot explained that people don't think it's really a planet anymore, it's something else, but he wasn't sure what. Analyse had tried to explain but didn't get real far either. With a chuckle I commented, "Pluto is definitely still a planet, it's just that a lot of those muggles on earth keep confusing things since they don't understand our ways."  "Excuse me Mrs. Moon, did you say MUGGLES ON EARTH?!?!!!!" "Yes". Delighted laughter came from the back seat.

    After I had sang a song to the GRAND kids at bedtime the night before, Benson had then played a section of a Harry Potter book on tape for them to listen and fall asleep to. Thus, they totally got the reference to muggles. "Excuse me Mrs. Moon, who are the 'muggle' people?" "Oh you know, the ones that don't laugh very often, the ones that don't believe in using their imaginations, the ones that often aren't very fun to be around."  Both kids shared that they knew exactly who those type of people were. It was quite comical!

    When asked if I had a dog, Brian whispered that it was of course 'Pluto'. When I spoke that answer, Analyse exclaimed, "Just like on Disney!"  Our cat's name was 'Mercury'. 

     "Excuse me Mrs. Moon, do your sons have any sisters?" "Yes, one".  "... what's her name?" "Venus". "... your sons are lucky they only have one sister, I have two"  "HEY" Analyse exclaimed. Elliot's delighted laughter proved he had totally meant for that jab to hit.  Brian and I again had a hard time controlling out laughter.

    I used the word "again" because it happened frequently. A few times we were quite glad for the roar of the busy highway. Such as when after finding out the Mr. Sun was my husband, Elliot had questioned why we (Mr. Sun and Mrs. Moon) were always going up and down on one another. Mr. Sun had winked at me and quietly stated, "Oh, you'd be surprised how much fun that can be". "Excuse me Mr. Sun, what did you say?"  "Oh, he's just being naughty Mr. Elliot". Mr. Sun got hushed when he continued to make  quiet little comments. ;-b

    One of the things my sons were suppose to do, were things like light the stars at night. That got a totally awed reaction/response. "... how come sometimes a lot of the starts are lit but sometimes only a couple?" "Because sometimes Saturn doesn't do what he suppose to, or he does but then goes back and blows them out."  In an altered voice Brian had started talking as though he was Saturn, stating how he didn't like to have to do so much work, etc.. Analyse started talking over the top of him, as though she was naughty son Saturn, she didn't seem to like what Brian had to say. Sigh...

    Somewhere along the way, the name of the "Milky Way" had been brought up. "No, that's a candy bar". "Really?!" Elliot had replied in amazed awedness. He didn't think he'd ever had one. He's going to be getting one in the mail soon from Mrs. Moon. (Shhhh ;-] )

    When questioned if I had any friends, I had replied "Santa". I tell you, their responses were making this so-o-o much fun!!! I was asked if I knew Santa's wife, and elf's, and reindeer (who's names were then listed both verbally and in song form). 

    I was always "Mrs. Moon". I've since decided that the next time I sing the ole song, o/~ "Mr. Moon, Mr. Moon, you're out too soon, the sun is still in the sky....."o/~   I need to change it to 'Mrs. Moon'.

   After the third hug and kiss goodnight, as Elliot rounded the corner to go up to mommy's apartment, he called back "see ya later Mrs. Moon".  "See ya soon Mr. Elliot"  with a giggle he stated, "Yeah! 'soon!!!' ".