What IS "It Is What It Is"?

I’ve had countless requests to explain the title of my blog, since many of you may not have been on Facebook when that particular gem was first made known.  And while I will certainly share that with you, I thought it would be fun to also pull out a few other “oldies but goodies”.  After all, many of the things he’s said are more or less one-liners, and require little explanation.  (But who’s kidding?  There’s no explaining that kid.)

I named this blog “It Is What It Is” because that phrase is, to date, my favorite “ism” to come out of my son’s mouth.  While we all know Cael has humor oozing out of his pores, I believe the funniest things he says are either things that are completely taboo (nuts, anyone?) or things that are waaaay beyond his maturity level.  

His adult-speak began with the line “Bills, bills, bills.  Nothing but bills!” that he picked up from television and then repeated every time I opened the mail, read papers or even looked at the phone book.  But even that didn’t prepare me for his most famous line.

“Cael, are you ready for naptime?”

“What choice do I have, Mommy?  It is what it is.”

When Cael, in his infinite wisdom says something like this, I’m almost tempted to reward him by letting him stay up past naptime.  But let’s face it—while that may be a reward for him, it’s nothing more than a punishment for me!  So, rather than subject myself to the inevitable tears and fits that accompany little sleep, I’ve chosen to give him a hug and big laugh, and then run to the computer to share it all with you.

And thus begins the task of choosing which “Caelisms” to share with you.  Let’s start at the every beginning.  According to Facebook (because Facebook has recently taken over for the moon as the entity that controls the tides and orbits the Earth) the first true “Caelism” I shared was on March 28, 2010.  My then two year-old was really getting into nightly prayers, and really enjoyed thanking God for the good things that happened that day.  I did not know yet that what I was about to hear was simply a taste of things to come.

“Dear God, thank you for a great day.  Thank you for…”

“Thanks for puppies, chips, and TOOTS!”

I should have seen it coming at that point, right?  I guess I thought his sassiness was just a component of the “terrible twos” that, by my calculations, begin at about 15 months and last until death.   But I quickly realized this crazy little loon in my house could really be exceptional.  Granted, he was right on par developmentally, not really ahead of the curve physically, but his ability to make me throw my hands in the air was (and is) unparalleled!  Especially when he hit me with conversations like this one the following September.

Where are we going, Mommy?

To the store.

We going to the store Mommy? To the store? We driving in the van? Mommy? To the store? We going to the store? What you going to get, Mommy? At the store? You going to the store? Mommy? Are you driving, Mommy? You driving to the store in the van? You going to the store? I not want to go to the store. You driving in the van, Mommy? You going to the store?

He’s clearly exceptional.  Just a few days later, after I had sobered up and patched the bald spots from where I’d pulled my hair out, Cael told me a little bit about his future plans.

“What do you want to do today?”

“I want to be a gym teacher.”

“Whatever, dude.”

This desire to be a gym teacher continued for many months, and he still mentions it occasionally.  Of course, his future profession has changed, and he now looks forward to being a train “Ductor”— a direct result of his recent train obsession.  This obsession is just one of many, so beware, future parents!  In additional to the cute things like liking trains or bubbles or building forts, if you have a boy he will be obsessed with poop.

"Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes. Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes. Eyes and ears and mouth and nose, head shoulders knees and toes and neck and hair and tummy button and bottom and tongue and boogers and elbow and poo-poo and pee!"

But if you’re lucky, they will take a break from the naughtiness, the sassiness and the “poopiness” to remind you that they are still little and still can be sweet and surprise you now and then.  Cael caught me off guard last February when he told me,

“Mommy, I like the letters and they like me.  I’m a good friend because I like to read them.”

Or in early March when he started asking Daddy about God.

"Look at the pretty sunset! Who somebody painted that sunset?"

Daddy: "God painted it."

"Where is God, Daddy?"

"He's up in heaven."

"Is hebben a long way away?"

"Yes, it's very far."

"I want to see that hebben."

"Not yet, Cael."

Cue the collective “awww…”  (For those of you that think I made a grammatical slip-up, Cael actually used the words “who somebody”.  Until recently, Cael used a lot of “who somebody did that” and “what something happened”.)  And in keeping with the religious theme, thus ends the reading of Cael’s “holy” words.  Back to sass.  And “poop”.

"A B C D E F Poop! H I J K M M M O Poop. Q R Poop, T U Poop, W X, Y and Poop... Now I know my poopy poops, next time won't you sing with poop!"

I think that song is a pretty good metaphor for Cael in general.   A normal, everyday kid… but with a twist and a twinkle in his eye.  Can you see why I call him my monkey?

"Mommy, I think I really AM a monkey. I jump a lot, see? And I like to eat bananas."

"But Cael, where is your fur? And where is your tail?"

"My fur is on my head, and it's curly. And I'm hiding my tail inside my underpants."

And with that, friends, you are caught up!  My monkey is crazy, stinky, wild, rambunctious, troublesome, silly, energetic, funny, clever, mischievous, creative, exhausting, and wonderful. 
 

Wouldn’t want it any other way.