"Ditto"

I decided to join Rosie for "What They Said, A Link-Up!"  It totally reminded me of that old Art Linkletter TV gem called "Kids Say the Darndest Things."  (Did I just reveal exactly how old I am by mentioning that show?)

Most of the linkers involved are in the process of raising young kids, so they have a wealth of recent hilarious comments made in Elmer Fudd accents to choose from.  My grown-up sons still say some pretty humorous things on a regular basis, but they do it on purpose.  (It's not the same.)  So I thought I'd make a little withdrawal from the old memory bank and tell you about something inadvertently funny son #4 said way back in 1991, when he was three.

I actually submitted this little story to Reader's Digest in 2003 for the "Life in These United States" humor section.  The tough thing about these submissions is that they had to be brief (less than 100 words), and I found it sort of difficult to convey the adorableness of this exchange between brothers using so few words.  Reader's Digest didn't think what I sent them was worthy of publishing (or receiving a $300 prize!).  The great thing about having a blog, though, is that you can publish whatever you want.  So here goes:

My husband and I were traveling to visit my in-laws with our four sons, aged three to seven.  We were due to arrive right at lunchtime, so my husband and I promised that as soon as we said hello we would make sandwiches, and we started taking orders in the car.  The two middle boys asked for peanut butter, no jelly.  Our oldest son said, "Ditto."  Hearing this, the three-year-old looked at his big brother and asked earnestly, "Does ditto taste good?"

And here's the face of the cutie pie who almost put in an order for a ditto sandwich.

[Sigh...]  I miss those days!