Can I close my ears?

God made us so we could close our eyes and not see what's going on around us.  Why is it that we can't close our ears?  I know I can cover my ears or even use ear plugs, but that doesn't always work and sometimes you need your hands for other things.... like driving.  My children talk A LOT.  And by a lot I mean non-stop.  It's like their heads will fall off they have to experience even 30 seconds of quiet.  I've heard that boys are usually pretty quiet.  My son never closes his mouth, at least at home.

Today while we were on our way to drop my daughter off at gymnastics camp I decided to time how long it took for some one to talk.  It takes about 15 minutes to get to the gym and in that time they were quiet for no longer than 25 seconds!  I couldn't believe it.  We often have conversations in the car, so it makes sense that we wouldn't have long pauses, but today it was just random.

This is pretty much how it went:

Son:  Mom can we play outside when we get home?
Me:  Sure honey.

Daughter:  Mom, I love gymnastics camp.
Me:  I'm glad.  I hope you have fun today.

Son:  Mom, can we watch Elmo's Potty Time when we get home?
Me:  Yes we can.

Daughter:  Mom, is my friend going to be there today?
Me:  Yes she is.

Son:  Mom, are we there yet?
Me:  Yes.
Son:  Mommy, no we're not!
Me:  If you know we're not there, quit asking me.

Daughter:  Mom, if my brother had friends that smoked and they came over for a sleep over, would you kick them out?
Me:  What?  No, I wouldn't kick them out.  They wouldn't be allowed to smoke in the house.

Son:  Mom, can we watch Elmo's Potty Time when we get home?
Me:  Yes, honey we can.

Daughter:  Smoking is yucky.  It makes you smell bad.
Me:  You're right.

Son:  Mommy, listen to me!
Me:  Yes, honey, what do you want to tell me?
Son:  Mom, I just want to tell you.... uh... uh...
Me:  Tell me what?
Son:  Can we watch Elmo's Potty Time when we get home?
Me:  Yes, honey.

Daughter:  Mom, did you pack crackers for my lunch?
Me:  Yes honey.

Son:  Mommy, I want to go to gymnastics.
Me:  I know honey, but you're not quite old enough yet.
Son:  Oh pickles!

Daughter:  Yeah, you need to be bigger.
Son:  I wasn't talking to you!  Just Mommy!
Daugher:  I was just letting you know.
Me:  Honey, don't speak to your brother that way and son don't yell at your sister.
Son and Daughter:  Sorry Mommy.

Son:  Mom, can we watch Elmo's Potty Time when we get home?

I could go on for quite a bit longer, but I think I've gotten my point across.  At least when we're at home I can walk into another room if I need some quiet, but in the car I'm trapped.  When my kids were babies I waited anxiously for the first time they called me Mommy and now they start every sentence with "Mommy".  I still like hearing it, but if I only heard it 5,000 times a day instead of 10,000 I wouldn't be upset.

To sum up, my daughter had a great time at camp and yes, my son got to watch Elmo's Potty Time.  At least the first 15 minutes.  After that he wanted to watch something else.