Life with Mater

Today’s movies tend to leave their mark on our children. They imitate the lines that make us laugh. Sometimes they even personify the characters they love. Well this is no different with my three year old nephew. He loves the movie Cars. He repeats lines and watches the movie as often as you will let him. He has now taken to calling himself “Mater, like tah-mater, but with out the ‘tah’”. Mater has brought quite the comedic relief into our lives since he began living with my parents several weeks ago. He has come up with some stunts and has popped off with some lines of his own that just make us laugh. Below are some examples of our life with Mater:

Scenario:  The previous night Nana sat on the couch and watched a movie with Mater while they ate some air-popped popcorn she had made. When the movie was over, she placed the bowl on the counter with the intentions of feeding the leftovers to her geese the next day as a treat. The next day arrived and Nana headed off to work for the day. At some point Poppy woke up and stepped into the living room to find Mater sitting on the back of the over sized couch with his feet dangling as if he was sitting on a fishing dock. The popcorn bowl was firmly tucked between his knees and the three dogs sat in a row in front of him. He was pitching handfuls of popcorn onto the floor like he was at the park feeding the squirrels. None of the dogs ate the popcorn (apparently they like butter flavored), but they all sat there looking at him like they knew how much trouble he was going to be in when Poppy found him. Nope, Poppy wasn’t happy that morning.

One-Liner #1: As Poppy began his normal morning routine, Mater firmly gave Poppy the morning schedule: “You go get a shower and shave your face. I gonna cut your hair.“

One-Liner #2: (I swear this is his favorite line.) It all started the day I let him sit on my lap while driving the riding lawn mower and allowed him to steer. “Uh huh, cuz’ I an awsun driver!” It is now his reasoning for a variety of things, not to mention the sole reason he believes he can start up the “tractor” and take it for a spin when he feels the need. Thank goodness he can’t reach the pedals.

One-Liner #3:  One morning Mater asked his grandfather to make him some french toast sticks that Nana had in the freezer. Poppy pulled out the box and read the directions with the one eye he had open. It was way to early for Poppy to be awake as a general rule…but, with Mater comes earlier wake up times. So in the toaster the french toast sticks go. Poppy pushes the little button down and walks away for a few minutes to finish waking up. The next sound to be heard is Mater announcing “Poppy, they’re smoking” in a melodic tone. Sure enough, the french toast sticks were smoking. Apparently, while reading the directions, Poppy stopped at the point where they read “in microwave or toaster” he wasn’t quite awake enough to read “in microwave or toaster OVEN”. When the button was depressed, the french toast sticks fell over and the toaster could not pop back up once the toaster reached a certain cook period. OOPS!

One-Liner #4: “Boys don’t lie. Only girls do…like my mommy.”

Conversation: One day Poppy and Mater stopped by to see Nana at work as they drove home from a day of errands. This must have gotten Mater thinking. When Nana arrived home that evening, Mater looked at her and asked, “Nana, why do you go to work?“

Nana smiled at him and replied, “To make money.”

Mater thought about it for a second and asked “Why, Nana?“

Again she smiled at him as she put her purse down and replied to him, “So I can buy you cookies.“

“Do you have any cookies, Nana?” Mater asked hoping she had some tucked away somewhere.

“No, honey, I don’t have any today.” Nana responded.

“Why not, you went to work?” Mater questioned.

Lessons we have learned from Mater:

• Peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches fix everything.
• You cannot play two movies at a time; it doesn’t matter how hard you try to jam the second tape into a VCR.
• You can pee in the backyard even though Nana tells you it’s bad.
• It doesn’t matter how much trouble you get into, Poppy will always love you.
• Cowboy boots go with everything, especially shorts.
• Without a hook, you can fish for hours and never use all of your bait.

It is funny to have such a little man pull things together and put them into perspective at his age. You can’t let him fool you, he’s a smart cookie. Just when you think you have the upper hand for the simple fact that you are an adult, in comes Mater. Whether it is a line he pulls out of nowhere, or the things you find him doing; he has a habit of reminding us about the simple things in life that can not be bought or traded. Laughter really can be the best medicine, as quoted by many and Mater has brought us that through his antics and one liners each day. We are always looking forward to see what the newest “Mater update” is.