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Four short stories

2012
05.11

My kids have been cracking me up lately. Here are a couple of sweet/funny/crazy things they have said and done…

Rose: Mom, there was a bake sale at school today.
Me: Oh, dang, Rose, I am sorry, I forgot I was supposed to send something.
Rose: Mom, you don’t have to be sorry, I only needed to bring something if I wanted to. It’s okay.
She’s such a sweet kid.  Really.  She’s so lovely and concerned with everyone’s feelings and really doesn’t want anyone to be upset.  A teacher at school stopped my mom on the playground to comment on what a “kind child” Rose is.  Those were her exact words.

Dillon: [getting in the shower] Mom, what is a coop detot?
Me: Uh, do you mean coup d’etat?
D: Yeah. [implicit ‘duh, mom…’] What is it?
These kinds of questions get me – because I have to tread the fine line between explaining something to him like he’s ten (and therefore talking down to him) and remembering that he’s ten and trying not to go too far into the weeds in my explanation…

Me: [Laying out clothes.] So, do you want to wear this shirt to school tomorrow?
Rose: Uh, no mom, I need to wear something I haven’t worn for a while. How about this one?
Don’t get me wrong, she’s always been extremely into clothes.  From pretty much the first thing I bought her.  (And here.  And probably a bunch of other places on this blog.)  But she’s never said anything that indicated that other people were paying attention to what she was wearing.  Heck, she’s had dresses and outfits she begged to wear over and over.  There’s a little sense of foreboding about this one…

Dillon and Charles traveled to Madison to see Neil deGrasse Tyson speak. More on that on Charles’ blog, I am sure – it is a great story and I need him to write it down. Rose just couldn’t miss school after missing a week to go to Louisiana with her grandma, so we had a girls’ day after school… We ran an errand to the Girl Scout store to pick up some badges for the troop, then we stopped at Maxie’s for dinner. We walk in, and Talking Heads’ Take Me To The River is playing. She immediately breaks into this funny little dance routine, and is totally rocking out as we are standing in front of the host station. Then the manager guy, who is behind the host station, breaks into a dance with her. It was pretty freaking awesome, and a testament to everyone – even complete strangers – pretty much loving Rose from the minute they meet her. We picked up fish and chips for her and sweet potato fries and collard greens for me, had a fabulous dinner, and spent the evening re-dying her pink highlights and fixing her manicure. We had an awesome night!

Category reciprocal affection |

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Family

2012
04.12

Tonight Rose and I were talking, and having that conversation moms probably have with sweet eight-year-old kids everywhere…

Rose:  I am going to live with you even after I am a grown up.

Me: Well, you might want to get married or something and have kids.

Rose: I don’t know who my husband would be!

Me: You might change your mind when you are a little older.

Rose: I am going to have kids but live here with you.

Me: You can live here with me as long as you want.  And when you are a grown up and have kids, I will be those kids’ grandma.

Rose immediately breaks into hysterical giggles.  She thinks that me being a grandma is the funniest idea EVER.  And laughs for easily a minute straight before she says, “You are my mom.  And you’ll be my kids’ GRANDMA!” and immediately cracks up again.

When he was eight, Dillon told me I’d be going along with him to college.  That kind of sweetness doesn’t come up as often these days, so I’d better enjoy it while I can.  Though it is pretty funny to think about ever being a grandma.

Tags: , Category hope for the future |

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It’s like riding a bike…

2012
03.24

My kids don’t know how to ride bikes without training wheels. We took the training wheels off two summers ago, but they’ve just never turned the proverbial corner and spent the time to figure out how to ride. We spent a couple of afternoons making good attempts last summer, but neither one of them got more than a house or two away without falling.

Cut to today: the kids down the block come over and ask D and Rose to ride to the park with them (and their dad). My kids – “Sure! Can you get our bikes out, Mom?” And I say sure, but quietly remind my kids that they need some practice as they haven’t been on bikes since last summer, and even then not very successfully.

So we get the bikes out, fill the tires, adjust the seats, put on helmets, etc.  And my kids REALLY want to do this.  So bad.  They are determined.  But there is no way they are going to learn to ride bikes well enough in a half hour to go to the park with their friends.

I mitigate their expectations: you have to learn to pedal, balance, steer, and brake well enough to get to the corner before I am even going to consider letting you go to the park.  And they both get to where they can do two of the things on the list, but not all four.  (Dillon had a spectacular wipeout where he rode almost directly into the fire hydrant.  I am pleased that no part of him wound up bloody after that one, just very, very muddy and grass-stained.)  So we opt to stay home and practice a bit more.  But they are really determined, and I think that having kids down the street that ride bikes everywhere is going to be the motivating factor.  They are going to figure this out this summer.  They got this.

Tags: Category hope for the future, meaningful labor |

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Happy Pi Day!

2012
03.14

Quoth my nephew: Do you like this? I made this for you.

Oscar kind of lies about that, though.  (He’s three, what do you expect, really?)  He’s an adorable little liar.  I guess I am lying, too: unless you work with me or Charles, the likelihood that you will eat either the pecan pie or the banana cream pie pictured above is pretty slim.  But I hope you get some pie on Pi day anyway!

Tags: , Category meaningful labor |

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