The Darndest Things

“Creativity doesn’t come from following instructions or guides.  Sometimes you just have to look at others’ ideas, and then come up with your own.”

Today is one of those “bad mom” days. Ethan had reminded me to be sure to leave a little something under his pillow last night, and I completely forgot. I figured I’d try again tonight, but in the meantime I’ve been very busy at the computer, telling the kids to get their own cereal, and mothering entirely by ear. That’s how I heard this conversation:

“Okay. Can I open my eyes yet?”

“Not yet…. not yet… okay… now! Go check under your pillow. I think there’s something from the tooth fairy!”

[He goes, checks]

“Hey, thanks Mary!”

“What!? What makes you think I am the tooth fairy?”

“Well, you made it a little obvious.”

Yes, this is a blog-worthy event. (more…)

Fifteen minutes ago:

“G’morning, sweet Ethan.”

“Hi Mom.” (stretch!!!) “I’m not all the way awake yet. What time is it?”

“Almost seven. We need to get up and get you two ready to go to Dad’s for the week.”

He stretched again, held out his hand, and called “High five!”

I’m always a bit bummed when they have to go, but I know they love Dad’s house with the star-ceiling theater, and the hot tub, and their cats, their trees (the ones that weren’t cut down anyway), and the rooms we’d painted in their favorite colors, and well… everything. Most of all I know they love their dad, and I’m not going to take that from them. I didn’t know what to say, but I didn’t want to leave him hanging. So I gave him an enthusiastic five.

Then after a moment, I volunteered, “Well, I got up and went to the pool for an hour this morning.”

“I know! What did you think the high five was for?”

<3

So you probably don’t remember my little post about chatting with Mary. Today I had the opportunity to chat with my less talkative child, via Gmail, in Spanish. Go figure. He’d just discovered gmail chat, and this is what I got.

E: ;-p como estas?
V: Bien, gracias!

… short pause …

E: [y tu]
E: fantastico gracias
V: oh! Y tu?
E: lol

The best part is that I really get to hear him LOL in the next room.