Tastes of Coffee

 

We don't drink coffee in my house - we have several types of instant coffee for visitors but we don't own a coffee maker. How my child thinks she knows what coffee tastes like is a mystery to me. She has smelled it before, when out and about, but not often. I usually make herbal or Earl Grey for her, but one morning I had made chai for myself and brewed a second cup for her when she asked, and I think the spices surprised her. We are drinking out of our coordinated strawberry mugs that my sister-in-law gave to us. It's fun to have matching or coordinated mugs. Often, it's actually better to not totally match because that makes it easy to swap mugs and if you make different teas, that's an unpleasant surprise. 

Text:
R: What kind of tea is this?
L: Chai.
R: It tastes like coffee.
L: ... How do you know how coffee tastes?!?
R: *unhinged laugh*

Girl Grey Tea

 

I have been introducing my preschooler to tea, usually a weakened form of whatever I'm drinking. Earl Grey is my favorite basic tea but Lady Earl Grey is preferred when I can find it. I also have been buying custom blends from Plum Deluxe and they have many Earl Grey varieties which I have enjoyed (especially Gratitude Blend or Picard Black). 

Text:
R: What kind of tea is this?
L: Earl Grey.
R: That's almost a girl tea because "earl" sounds like "girl."
L: Let me tell you about Lady Earl Grey. 

Learning to Count

 

Happy belated Birthday to my dad-in-law! Also Happy Birthday to my sister-in-law and nephew. Quite the festive weekend.
So my toddler doesn't quite have his numbers straight. Is it considered stealing candy from babies when you give them a choice and they choose the lesser? I could choose to make this an educational lesson, or I could choose to eat the extra chocolate chip. It's a hard choice. 

Text:
L: Do you want 2 chocolate chips or 3?
O: TWO!
L: Ok.

Tumble Those Leaves

 

There is an excellent show on Amazon Prime called Tumble Leaf. It's whimsical and gets kids to think things through, often in an amusing way. And I like the claymation style that they use - it's very non-stimulating. 

Explanation: In the show "Tumble Leaf," the main character (Fig, the blue fox) often says (when puzzling over an issue then finding a solution), "Turkey shout! I figured it out!" 

Second Explanation: I think I'm holding a cup of juice in this comic, but honestly I don't know why I drew it like that. And that reminds me that I was going to drink some 100% grape juice this evening because everyone is getting sick in this coldness.

Text:
Title: Parenthood
M: Can you Figure it out?
L: Turkey shout! I can't.

Counting Order

 

Happy Birthday to my brother! He has his degree in accounting, so maybe he can help my preschooler get her numbers straight. Ha, the other day my kids were playing dress-up and they were a prince and princess and for whatever reason, Robin was getting Ori to count to ten and he had his numbers all over the place so she very sweetly said "my prince, you are not very good at counting; you need to go to school" and he agreed. 

Text:
R: eleven, twelve, fourteen, sixteen, fifteen, nineteen, twenty!
L: That's not in the right order.
R: But it's my order?

Lane Departure

 

Sometimes it's very hard to keep the snide comments inside. I know that some safety features are overreaching and it's hard to adapt to all the lights and warnings that new cars have, but some just make sense. Stay in your lane (bro) or change over with your blinker on. 

Text:
A: I HATE how my car complains about "lane departure" when I switch lanes, like I KNOW! That's the point here!!!
B: ... Have you tried using your blinker?

Pants vs Capris

 

A fellow parent at the school my preschooler attends made this comment and I just had to comic it. I am quoting Esmé Gigi Geniveve Squalor from Netflix's "A Series of Unfortunate Events." That character likes to declare things "OUT" and "IN" in a fashion sense, for example she declares elevators "OUT" and stairs "IN" so everyone has to take the stairs rather than use the fully functioning elevator. She has exceedingly vibrant outfits and is quite the character. Also, she's evil. There's that, too. 

Explanation: If your pants are too short, you can try calling them capris and hope for the best. 

Text:
A: My kids grew SO MUCH over Christmas break that their school uniform pants are too short!
L: School pants are OUT! School capris are IN!

Just Trying

 

I mean, he's a very literal child. I've been singing "it's time to go to sleep" (to the tune "Arise, My Soul, Arise") as a lullaby to him and he'll open one eye and say "I AM going to sleep" like yep, buddy, that's what we're doing here but clearly you're not asleep yet however per the lyrics (just that one line, over and over) it simply is time to go to sleep, and he is trying to go to sleep, so he needs to announce it. 

Explanation: None needed if you've dealt with a toddler potty training. 

Text:
L: Do you need to poop?
O: No, just trying. *GRUNT*
L: LET'S do that on the toilet. 

Sushi Yoshi

 

My preschooler likes sushi (California roll or other cooked ones) but my toddler hates rice so... we usually bring a pbj for him. And she pronounces sushi as "shushi."

Explanation: Sushi sounds similar to Yoshi, and Yoshi races with Mario, and Mario is red like Spider-Man? Maybe. Seems like it could be my toddler's logic. 

Text:
L: Your dad is picking up dinner on his way home. Did you hear what we're having?
R: Shushi shushi shushi!
O: Yoshi Yoshi Mario Mario Spider-Man!

Elephant vs Ape

 

That is my daughter using logic taught to her by VeggieTales Silly Songs with Larry - specifically the Monkey with Larry song. It's a funny song with a deeper meaning about false dichotomies. Let's dive in!

It postulates: 
monkeys have tails (correct)
apes do not have tails (correct) THEREFORE
things with tails are monkeys (mostly false other than one case [monkeys])
things without tails are apes (again mostly false other than one case [apes])
things without tails are not monkeys (true other than Curious George)
things with tails are not apes (true)

Logic is fascinating and you can get to a right answer with wrong logic.

Text:
R: African elephants are not apes because they have tails.
L: I mean... yes...

Protein vs Antitein

 

Peanut and steak vs broccoli and carrot, who will win??? Well, it's a protest so there's no winners? Maybe they'll have a nice discussion and come to realize that diets should be balanced. 

Yes, this is a continuation of the comic from Sunday. Also yes, I drew these like VeggieTales without arms because arms are hard. But also no faces because I don't like anthropomorphizing food. 

Explanation: Some foods (like peanuts and steak) have protein in them. Others (like vegetables) don't have protein. The word "protein" starts with "pro", so therefore I invented an "anti" to go against it.

DISCLAIMER: This comic was written before the new food pyramid and all that happened. I'm not weighing in on that - I'm just making a pro- vs anti-tein joke. 

Text:
Peanut and Steak holding a PRO TEIN! sign.
Broccoli and Carrot holding an ANTI TEIN! sign. 

Survey Says

 

These are the questions to which we need answers. 

Explanation: Antediluvian means before the Flood (i.e. Enoch is such an antediluvian name). Anti and Pro are usually opposites. Ante and Anti are easy to confuse. I have decided that if you like meat then you are pro-tein (haha, it's protein) and if you're anti-tein you just like fruits and vegetables (like a toddler avoiding beans and meat). 

Text:
S: Are you antediluvian or prodiluvian?
C: What?
S: Are you pro-tein or anti-tein?
C: ?

Home vs Home

Tis a mystery why my kids are like this...

Explanation: The first image is me with my kids. The second image is my mom with me and my brother.

Behind The Scenes: Originally, the second comic didn't line up completely with the first but I changed the layout so my brother is to right of me just like my son is to the right of my daughter. Also I made our arms similar and our feet are in the same places over the link at the bottom. My original plan was just to have the "mom" blurb copied but I like how similar I was able to get them.

Text:
Title: Me at Home
L: Why do you guys say my name so much?!?
R&O: MOM mom Mom mom Mommy Mom
Title: Me over the Holidays
L1: Guys...
L2& L3: MOM mom Mom mom Mommy Mom

Raw Egg

 

Happy Birthday Eve to my brother-in-law! I have a complicated comic combining his birthdate and my graduation date to make my birthdate, but I don't think it'll make sense without giving away a little too much personal info. I'll save it for his birthday card. It'll be a limited edition (meaning only one made, unless I make it his default birthday comic and put it on his card every year). 

The first hurdle is understanding what your kid is saying. The next hurdle is extrapolating what they're meaning from what they're saying. It's a multi-layered process. Actually the first step is getting your kid to verbally say what they want rather than just crying. Then the understanding followed by the extrapolating. 

Text:
L: We're having noodles with fried eggs for dinner.
R: I don't like when you cook the eggs. Can I have mine uncooked? I like them that way.
L: *translating* ... You want a hardboiled egg? 
R: Yes please.

Peppermint Deterrent

 

Apparently you can use peppermint as a pest deterrent in your attic and pantry and such. Or maybe you can use it to discover the truth about people? Results may vary.

Also, this logic is reminding me of the Monkey Silly Song from Veggie Tales.

Text:
L: Both mice and spiders don't like peppermint.
M: Good to know.
L: ... You don't like peppermint.
M: ... Oh no, you found me out?