Do Penguins have Scales?

Climbing into the car after an awful trip to JoAnne’s for some fabric, I tell the boys with as much patience as I could muster to get their seat belts on so we can get home quickly.  It seems that they rarely catch onto my mood or do not care when their mom is about to blow up like a “beam me up Scotty” gone terribly wrong.  Dr. Minivan is in his usual messed up state with petrified French fries, Bad Guys, discarded socks, and Macdonald’s pickles in their fruit leather stage, littering the floor in a way that would make Mr. Pollock proud.  Every time I climb into the van I say aloud, “I really need to clean this car!”  But I forget about it as we drive back into the garage with three ornery kids and me wanting to get out and into the house as soon as I possibly can.

I mentioned that the brothers three don’t seem to notice my mood.  As I turned the car on and began to drive, Douglas randomly asks, “are penguins reptiles?”  Well, that completely throws my mind and mood for a loop.  “No,” I answer, “They’re birds.”  Douglas then counters with, “but they lay eggs!”  I had to explain that all birds lay eggs.  Douglas then tells me, “I wish I was a reptile because then I could climb out of an egg when I was born.”  Mommy puts the car in reverse and quickly changes the subject to something not involving reproduction and continues on her quest to get home as soon as possible.  Maybe it’s in the wind, but I feel a plethora of questions on this subject beginning to bloom in Douglas and Reed’s thoughtful minds. This morning they asked me if I was the Easter Bunny.  Sheeesh!  I told them that I don’t have a fluffy tail or long ears and to stop calling me a bunny!