The things we don't know about our parents..

Rushing around in the morning before heading out to school....

Mom: Wait, I think I'm forgetting something.

N: I have my snack!

Mom: Oh, that's it, I forgot my lunch.

N: You need a lunch when go to work?

Mom: I almost always eat lunch at work.

N: You do?

Mom: Yeah.

N: I'VE KNOWN YOU FOR FIVE YEARS and I didn't know you ate lunch at work!


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N: Mom, did you get sick a lot when you were a kid?

Mom: Yeah. I had a lot of sicknesses when I was little.

N: You mean as soon as you got well you just got sick again?

Mom: I don't remember but I think it was like that. I was sick for a long time with several sicknesses.

N: (very serious face) Did you pick your nose and not wash your hands?

Get your Sunday best ready...

N: Mom, I think I'm going to get married two or three times.

Mom: Really? What makes you think that?

N: I just really like people.

First Snow!

We spent the weekend in North Lake Tahoe and introduced N to the snow for this first time. Due to the new stimulation, N came out with some excellent one liners throughout the weekend.

On seeing the snow for the first time while driving she got almost choked up: "I just can't believe it's white everywhere. Oh, it's so beautiful. I can't believe we're really in the snow."

After a few more minutes of driving she offered: "When I grow up I'm going to write books about my life like Laura Ingalls Wilder and the chapter of this trip will be called 'Snow, Finally.'"

We broke off icicles from the roof and handed them to her: "My first icicle!" She broke off another one herself "My second icicle!"

"It's like a piece of glass, but it's cold!"

She also tried to get us to sled down the steepest sled hill available at a park telling us that it's "not THAT dangerous!"

On the way home two days later, N kept herself awake in the car by talking almost without stopping for over forty-five minutes. When she finally ran out of things she wanted to tell us (or steam) she reflected "It's nice to have a chance to talk for awhile. Especially when you don't interrupt me like you usually do."

Reading, writing and its consequences.

After finishing a tour of the Seymour Center at Long Marine Lab.

N: I want to write all about this in my journal.

Mom: That's a great idea. What do you think you will write about?

N: That dolphins know sign language and are smarter than you think.

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N: Dad, let's play "Little House in the Big Woods." *

Dad: O.K. How do we play?

N: Well, I'm Pa and you're Mary, Laura and Ma.

Dad: Uh. That sounds kind of hard.

N: Well, that's the way it's done. Now go into the cosy house and I'll go kill the pig.

* Wilder, Laura Ingalls. Little House in the Big Woods. Harper Collins, New York, NY, 3rd edition 1971.
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Cats

At a grandparent abode (there are four six such abodes in our lives) playing with a cat:

N: Maxie, you wouldn't hiss and attack me. You're too darn sweet.

Plans for the future

N: Mom, I've decided that I'm going to live with you and Daddy for the rest of my life.
Mom: You can do that if you want to. But if you grow up and want to live somewhere else you can do that too.
N: Yeah, but I won't go to outer space.
Mom: Oh, why not?
N: Because there is no air in outer space so we couldn't talk to each other and that wouldn't be good.
Mom: Well, then we'll just stay on Earth.
N: Yeah.

Menu planning

Mom: I'm trying to figure out what to make for tomorrow's lunch with Ana. What do you think?

N: Eggs and Bagels. Easy, peasy.