Figure of Speech

Last night as I was cooking dinner I heard Alex yell "Mom, Hammie just ate my snack!!" Hammie is our 6 month old weenie dog that we got for Christmas. Now I know it is almost impossible that Hammie, the dog that has little stubs for legs, could have gotten into Alex's snack without a little help. That help comes from Lucky our two year old Jack Russell Terrier. So I go into Alex's bedroom to find an empty plate, a very mad six year old, and two little dogs staring up at me innocently. This scenerio is an everyday occurrence in our household especially since we added little Hammie into the mix. So I picked up the plate, reassured Alex dinner would be ready soon and headed back to the kitchen. About a minute later I hear Alex yelling again..."Mom, Hammie has your shoes!!!" By now i'm so irritated i'm wondering who I could call that would want to take my two dogs and keep them. The pound is even crossing my mind. As i'm walking into Alex's room i'm muttering to myself "i'm getting rid of you two dogs". I pick up my shoes, or what's left of them, and start heading back to the kitchen again. Alex is trailing behind me and when I look around I notice he has the most worried look on his face. I asked him what was wrong and he said "Mommy, you aren't really going to get rid of the dogs are you? I really love them." Now when I said i'm going to get rid of you two dogs I really didn't mean it. No matter how irritating my dogs can be I love them to pieces and they are apart of our family. It was just a figure of speech but how do you explain that do a six year old? Well I wouldn't have had to if I didn't say "Alex, it was just a figure of speech!" He would have been fine with a simple "oh mommy was just mad at them" and "I would never get rid of the dogs." I just had to say "figure of speech". What does that really mean anyway? So I did my best and we went on with our night once Alex was convinced the dogs weren't going to be shipped off while he was asleep or something. Bed time rolls around and I tell Alex it's time to brush his teeth and get in bed. He turns looks at me and never misses a beat while saying "that's just a figure of speech, right?!"