Quotes from Richard

(age 2)

“Everybody in the world is fast asleep, and that’s good. You wouldn’t want everybody to be fast awake.”
“I look just like Dad, only I have smaller feet”
“I hit my head but it’s not hit any more”
“When it rained on me, it made me a little bit sad, because I’m not really used to being rained on.”
“The tricycle is broken down [because] the carburator is upside down.”
“This dump truck is having a problem ... the truckburator is screwed in wrong.”
While standing inside the cabinet door in front of the sink: “I belong in the cabinet, although I’m not a bag or a glove, if you please.”
“Dad, your hands are like ice. Ice is in the snow family.”
“I was successfully born[ed] into a baby.”
“They call it Sunday school because you go on Sunday. If you went on Saturday, it would be called Saturday school. But that sounds funny, so we just go on Sunday.”

After watching “Singing in the Rain”: “There were a few mishaps in that movie.”
“Dad, do you think you could make this a little more sophisticated so the wheels won’t fall off?”
Dad: “Do you want some apple juice?” Richard: “No!” Dad: “How about some milk?” Richard: “No! I don’t want any more liquids!”
About his stuffed penguin: “You know, he really is a penguin of very few words.”
When Richard was about 4, Frances brought him to hear me playing some free jazz somewhere at CMU. He walked in, saw me in the middle of the performance and shouted out “Hi Dad!” I tried to ignore him as we were all concentrating on the music, so he asked Mom “Why doesn’t Dad say ‘Hi?’” Frances said quietly, “He’s trying to think of what to play.” Being ever considerate and helpful, Richard shouted out “Play ‘All Blues,’ Dad!” The band broke up laughing, but I’m so proud he thought of Miles first.

“Mom, did the dinosaurs actually die in the museum?”
(At kindergarten, Richard learned that when you are adopted, you become part of the family.)
Dad: “You’re part of the family.”
Richard: “I know, because you adopted me.”
Dad: “You’re not adopted!”
Richard (sadly): “I’m not part of the family?”

“Dad, you’re crazy, well, you’re exactly right, actually.”
“The battery is charged up enough, at least it’s heavier than it was yesterday.”

Upon finding Penelope Leach with a bookmark: “You’ve been reading this for seven years, and this is as far as you’ve got?”

Richard: “I’ve got a great vocabulary.” Mom: “Modest too.” Richard: “What’s that mean?”

“‘You bet’ means OK, but ‘I bet’ means ‘I don’t think so’. It really depends on who’s doing the betting.”

“I’m going to try this Jesus thing,” first encounter of Bach’s “Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring” during cello practice.
“Feel free to make fun of me if I think it’s funny. If not, I shall rebuke you.”
“Mom, do I have any more wax in my hair?”

Richard had the flu and just couldn’t keep some jello down, after which he emerged from the bathroom and said “New color, same great taste!”

We played 20 questions (Person, Place, or Thing). Richard completely stumped us and couldn’t answer a single question about his person. “How can you even know this person exists if you can’t answer a single quesiton about him?” we insisted, but Richard stood firm that this person existed, he knew the name of this person, and he just couldn’t answer any of our questions. Finally we gave up, and he revealed the person: Martin Luther King, Junior’s father.
After calling from school about a cancelled after-school rehearsal: “Mom, can’t I have my own phone? I had to borrow this phone from a trombone player!”