Mickey Donald

 

Yeah, there's a comma there but apparently I wasn't emphasizing it when spoken. Yes, I'm pretty sure Goofy is a dog but it's just weird when Pluto is also a dog.
We have been watching some of the classic old movies from my childhood (or before but I remember watching them as a kid) with the famous trio taking on classic fairy tales and stories (Prince and the Pauper, Jack and the Beanstalk, etc.) and it's been nice but also I've forgotten so much of those movies it's sort of like watching it anew (and also watching as an adult looking out for scary parts is different than watching as a kid about to be blindsided by unexpected happenings). 

Text:
L: We're gonna watch a Mickey, Donald, and Goofy movie.
R: That makes no sense!
L: What?
R: Mickey Donald?! It should be Mickey Mouse!!!
L: Three characters, my girl. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy I don't know what he is.

Parent Hood Haikus

Double Feature! 

Happy early Birthday to my brother!
Some days it be like that. Some kids know when you're on your last nerve and try to hop right on it. Other kids are completely oblivious as they trip over your last nerve. Does my household have both types? I will neither confirm nor deny. 

Sometimes I comic my thoughts - sometimes I haiku my thoughts - sometimes I do both. 

Text:
Parenthood Haiku:
Don't test me, my child.
I get text anxiety.
I know I will fail.

Parent Hood Haiku:
Rob the rich to feed
My kids one snack of berries,
Then do it again.

The Imagination of Children

 

My kids both have very active imaginations and therefore it's free entertainment for me to sip my tea and just watch whatever their getting into next. Any piece of paper can be a map, menu, or whatever is needed for the given scenario. Any toy can become the long lost treasure of an intrepid group of adventurers. It's just amazing to see these kids growing up into the next level of childhood. 

Text:
Title: The Imagination of Children
O: I NEED TO GO!!!
R: Where?
L: ?
O: To South America! To find blue unicorns.

Rocky Cartoons

 

Rocky and Bullwinkle is a favorite cartoon from my husband's childhood, however my children haven't seen much of it as there are perilous parts and my daughter doesn't handle those well. Rocky is apparently a dog in the Paw Patrol show (we don't watch it but my kids like the books from the library). I'm now remembering when my daughter heard "We Don't Talk About Bruno" and immediately thought of Cinderella's dog. Kids don't handle duplicate names well, and honestly most adults don't either but sometimes we don't make the connections like kids do.

Text:
Title: Cartoons
M: Is that a flying squirrel on your shirt? Like Rocky?
R: Dad, Rocky is a puppy. 

Wisdom of a Child

 

Nobody wants you to have the wisdom of a child. Faith of a child, sure. Wonder of a child, excellent. But that wonder and faith needs to be tempered by a caretaker with the wisdom of age. 

Text:
M: That's not a wise move!
R: When has that literally ever stopped us?
O: *Poking something he should not* 

Minute Hours

 

I am yet again reminded that children are a blank slate when it comes to knowledge, and have to be taught concepts of time and such. I am fairly certain that my kids currently don't know how many minutes are in an hour, and therefore don't know that half an hour is 30 minutes. They are learning the concept of minutes from watching videos, like a Bluey episode is 8 minutes and a Danny Go song is about 4 minutes. And sometimes they get the whole "tomorrow we are doing something" but it seems everything in the past is "yesterday." Time is confusing anyways - I get why kids don't get it.

Text:
L: How far away did Dad say the hotel was, half an hour?
R: He said 35 hours.
L: Minutes, girl. 35 minutes. 

All the Milk Cows

 

This is another throwback comic, from when Robin was a bit younger and didn't understand the rhyming part of the goodbye pairings. It should be "See you later, alligator! Take a bow, milk cow! Out the door, dinosaur! Wave goodbye, butterfly!" and so on. There's a whole song about them. But it still is cute how kids process things. 

Text:
R: See you later, milk cow! Take a bow, milk cow! Out the door, milk cow! Wave goodbye, milk cow!
L: The alligator, dinosaur, and butterfly feel left out, my girl. 

Yesterday's Pets

Pet stores are like the free zoo for kiddos. There was a pet store (Today's Pets) in a shopping strip near me where we would browse before getting groceries. It is now a sushi place and I just think that's ironic, since the pet store had a long wall covered in fish tanks. I wonder if they were able to repurpose any of the things from the previous occupants. I have not visited despite my curiosity and my desire to eat sushi. 

Text:
R: Can we go to the pet store?
L: That's not a pet store anymore. It's now ... oh, it's a sushi place. Hmmm.
Store sign: Today's Pets Kawa Sushi AYCE

Counting

 

So in French, they count oddly. I don't know French, but I do know this. Actually I just looked it up (here) and they don't have specific numbers for 70 (“sixty-ten”), 80 (“four-twenties”), and 90 (“four-twenties-ten”)? So that's unique. But they do have a number for 30 (trente) however I think my comic's point still stands. Also this is an older comic that I took a while to draw - my kiddo knows how to count at least to one hundred so this is a throwback. 

Text:
L: 27, 28, 29 - what comes next?
R: Twenty-ten!
L: We are not French.

Special Mayo

 

I didn't know that my kid knew our pastor's name, since she usually refers to him as "Nathanael's dad" which is fair since she knows her friends more than their parents. Honestly, I never considered that the phrases "Pastor Cho" and "Trader Joe" have a similar cadence. (Her grandma has alpha-gal and the only mayo she knows is truly vegan is the TJ one.) The super confusing thing is that we had just had a church fellowship where the Chos brought a salad which contained mayo so I did have to think... but I realized what was going on before calling the Chos and asking for their mayo brand. 

Text:
R: You need to get Pastor Cho's mayo for the potato salad - it's the only one Grandma can have.
L: ... Trader Joe's mayo?
R: yes. 

Mr. Shark Time

 

So many variations of this game exist. I've heard it called Mr. Wolf or Mr. Fox as well. The name of the game is "What's the time, Mr. <insert animal>?" and play is simple (it shows up in at least one Bluey episode, "Shadowlands" and a Danny Go episode about Summer Time). One player has their back turned to everyone, everyone asks the question, the player gives a time, and everyone takes that many steps towards the player. At some point, the player answers "Dinner time!" and then it becomes a game of tag. 

Explanation: 24hr time is like 12hr time except it keeps counting up after noon, instead of resetting at one. Therefore twenty o'clock would be (20-12) 8pm. 

Text:
R: What time is it, Mr. Shark?
O: Twenty o'clock!
L: That's known as 8pm by many. 

Scrunchies

 

Bonus!

There is much to be said about 90's fashion. Much of it doesn't need to be said. HOWEVER my daughter has started using a scrunchie in her hair when she goes to bed and WOW her hair is so much tamer in the mornings. 

Text:
M: I have been told this is a scrunchie. They were very popular when your mom was a kid.
L: Had to hold back that perm somehow. 

Bonus:
L: Feels nicer than a banana clip.
M: How do those work?
L: I never learned.

Toddler Goals

 

Of course this was loudly announced as I was dropping him off at the kid area in the gym. Where he had peed himself the day before. And thank you, girly, for the clarification. Yes, goals all 24hrs not just when the sun is up or whatever.

Text:
O: I will NOT pee my pants!
L: That is always the goal of the day.
R: And the goal of the night, too. 

Throwing Food

 

Tales from Pre-K: name redacted to hide the one getting condemned. I was also informed that he tips chairs, as in when he sits in them he doesn't "keep all six feet on the ground" like I was informed to do as a child. My son thought the individual was really cool because he has the same name as a favorite uncle. You just never know what will stand out to a child. 

Text:
R: *redacted* is the boy who throws food.
L: We do not throw food.
O: Yeah, just gently throw.
R: We absolutely do not throw food at all.
O: Just gently throw.

Silly Donkey Song

 

Happy early Birthday to my niece! I am blessed with many nieces and nephews, and tomorrow concludes this one's first trip around the sun. 

Oh, the many translations/connections you make when you're a parent. We went to the Disney On Ice Encanto/Frozen show earlier this year, and for the song "Surface Pressure" Luisa sang/skated about with a crew of backup dancers/skaters who were dressed as donkeys. My kids thought it was hilarious. They giggle every time the song plays because they're thinking of the ridiculous donkey skaters ("they should be on all fours, like Sven, not on two legs!") ((Sven was played by two skaters in a shared reindeer costume whereas the donkeys were all individual skaters)). I'm pretty sure most people don't think of "Surface Pressure" as a silly donkey song. 

Side-note, did you know that Luisa is the middle child??? I totally thought she was the oldest. Isabella (must be said with all the disgust Mirabel can muster) is the oldest, while Mirabel is clearly the youngest. You learn something new every time you google a random thing to spell-check your comics. (I couldn't remember if her name was Louisa or Luisa). 

Text:
R&O: Silly Donkey Song!!!
L: Uhhhh *remembers Disney on Ice Encanto* right, "Surface Pressure." 

Stars On Ice: Isabeau

 

I introduced my kids to famous ice skaters via books from the library before the Winter Olympics this year so they would enjoy watching the events with me. I mispronounced Isabeau's name (it's Isa-bo, not Isa-boo) and didn't realize this until hearing her name announced, so my child's question/heckle actually rhymed when she said it. 

My kids were super into watching the stars while they were on ice. I did look up the skaters and watch YouTube clips of their performances ahead of time, so they were prepared. Also, I like watching figure skating. It's pretty amazing what people can do. 

Side-note, I posted a thing about our trip to Stars on Ice at Hershey on my other blog: http://notsocomical.comicaltruestory.com/2026/05/stars-on-ice.html 

R: Isabeau, what jump will you do?!?!
L: I know you're just curious, but it's coming across as heckling. 

Age Disparity

 

The joke here is that my kids don't fully enunciate and miscommunications happen. And this is what I think of and how I respond now when one of them says they're full, as neither of them are four. 

Explanation: "Full" and "four" sound the same when you have a toddler's pronunciation. 

Text:
O: I'm full!
R: No you're not - you're three!

Absolutely a Sith

 

I wasn't sure which version I liked better, so here's both.

Happy Birthday to my most amazing, my one and only, my husband of almost two decades. 

Happy May the Third! The day before May the Fourth. It's a Star Wars thing. Much like how this comic is a Star Wars thing. The Jedi are absolutely sure that only the Sith deal in absolutes. But for real, my preschooler is giving out way too many ultimatums, it's like a mattress store that is constantly having close-out everything-must-go sales. 

Side-note - we will be back to our regularly scheduled Abraham&Lot comics next week. Or actually the week after since next week is Mother's Day and I have a comic for that. It's not about Lot's kids' mom because that would be kinda wrong. 

First Version:
R: If you don't play this right now, you will never ever play it again!!!
O: Only a siff deals in absowutes!
Second Version:
R: If you don't play this right now, you will never ever play it again!!!
L: Only a sith deals in absolutes!

Ages and Stages

 

Happy Belated Birthday to my Robin!
My Oriole, you go so many places. But not to Cubbies, Pre-K, or Kindergarten when you're two. Cubbies is the 3&4 year old group in Awana Clubs. It's always interesting to hear how a kid sees the world and explains things.

Text:
R: When you're 3, you go to Cubbies. When you're 4, you go to Pre-K. When you're 5, you go to Kindergarten.
O: I'm 2, so I'm not going anywhere.

Daily Grind

 

Also, my child was confused because we only drink tea in our household so the concept of a coffee grinder is foreign - it is a thing that exists only at grandma's house. Ah, but after a quick search it shows that the daily grind is referring to a grain grinder, not the coffee kind. And also it's referring to how tedious things grind and wear you down. But also more households have a coffee grinder than a grain grinder, so maybe the meaning of "grind" is changing too.

Explanation: The daily grind is what we call the workday. A meatball sandwich is called a grinder in Connecticut. I, and therefore my children, currently live in Maryland, and my kids don't know all the CT things (despite my efforts).

Text:
M: Ok, time to start the daily grind.
L: Like a meatball sandwich.
R: *MD girl confused by the concept of a CT grinder*