Cirocco Jones

It's funny when your kids let you know you got something right without even realizing they're doing so. Like Daniel, the other day, when we were listening to the Fiddler On the Roof soundtrack and he remarked, "It's funny how this is both the least romantic and the most romantic love song in the whole musical."

It is. I'm glad he can see that :)

• Tevye: Golde, I have decided to give Perchik permission to become engaged to our daughter, Hodel.
  
• Golde: What??? He's poor! He has nothing, absolutely nothing!
  
• Tevye: He's a good man, Golde. I like him. He's a little crazy, but I like him. And what's more important, Hodel likes him. Hodel loves him.
  So what can we do?
  It's a new world, Golde... A new world.
  Love. Golde...
  Do you love me?
  
• Golde: Do I what?
  
• Tevye: Do you love me?
  
• Golde: Do I love you?
  
• Tevye: Well?
  
• Golde: With our daughters getting married
  And this trouble in the town
  You're upset, you're worn out
  Go inside, go lie down!
  Maybe it's indigestion
  
• Tevye: Golde I'm asking you a question..
  Do you love me?
  
• Golde: You're a fool
  
• Tevye: I know...
  But do you love me?
  
• Golde: Do I love you?
  For twenty-five years I've washed your clothes
  Cooked your meals, cleaned your house
  Given you children, milked your cow
  After twenty-five years, why talk about love right now?
  
• Tevye: Golde,
  The first time I met you
  Was on our wedding day
  I was scared
  
• Golde: I was shy
  
• Tevye: I was nervous
  
• Golde: So was I
  
• Tevye: But my father and my mother
  Said we'd learn to love each other
  And now I'm asking, Golde
  Do you love me?
  
• Golde: I'm your wife!
  
• Tevye: I know...
  But do you love me?
  
• Golde: Do I love him?
  For twenty-five years I've lived with him
  Fought with him, starved with him
  Twenty-five years my bed is his
  If that's not love, what is?
  
• Tevye: Then you love me?
  
• Golde: I suppose I do
  
• Tevye: And I suppose I love you too
  
• Both: It doesn't change a thing
  But even so
  After twenty-five years
  It's nice to know

• Played on the computer, chatted with his friends, and completely forgotten three of the four extremely minor tasks I'd left for him to do.
  
  
• Yelled "F*%#!!" at the top of his lungs. ('Sokay, it was a swear-worthy moment.)
  
  
• Given Justin a spontaneous hug and said "Oh my God I am so lucky to have you for a little brother!"
  
  
• Apologized profusely over the task thing and hurried off to do more work than what I originally gave him (our motto is "You coulda done a little, now you'll have to do a lot").
  
  
• Told me his favourite quote from the Prydain Chronicles is "I've heard men complain about doing women's work, and women complain about doing men's work, but I've never heard the work complain about who does it, as long as it gets done."

I love my kid :) :) :)

It's a very ancient saying,
But a true and honest thought,
That if you become a teacher,
By your pupils you'll be taught.
- The King and I

Thanksgiving 1999, Daniel was two and a half. He had been looking forward to Thanksgiving for weeks. We had told him that there would be turkey, and stuffing, and pie, and Luli and Guy, and various friends and relatives he loved, and it was going to be so much fun, and and and.

Thanksgiving Day dawned and Chris was on call, as per usual. I was around seven months pregnant, and run ragged from working two jobs and essentially being a single parent running a Bed & Breakfast for a medical student. We got up, got breakfast, and I started tidying and preparing and organizing and cleaning and Daniel stop that and putting away toys and Daniel! Stop it! I just put that away! and cooking and DANIEL! Don't touch that! and scrubbing and No I can't read you a story! and wiping and DANIEL! Put that away! and stirring and NO! I can't play with you!!

"Mama," Daniel finally says curiously, "is Thanksgiving a bad day?"

Full stop.

Damn it.

I picked him up and told him it wasn't supposed to be. Then I closed the doors to the rooms that weren't going to be part of Thanksgiving anyway and thus had no reason to be spotless unless I was paranoid about nosy dinner guests going up, opening them and passing judgement on my housekeeping skills, put the mop away because the kitchen floor was clean enough, and sat down to read to him.

It's one of the earliest lessons he taught me. Let's hope I keep it in mind today, and make this about having a good time together, and being grateful for each other and for what we have, rather than trying to impress Martha Stewart with my Perfect Hostessness and making everyone around me miserable.

We're playing a board game in which, at the end of each round, players must discard many unused resources. Daniel looks mildly perturbed, and Chris says, "Hey, if you don't like discarding, just make sure you spend, spend, spend."

"Oh no, don't worry," says Daniel. "I'm going to spend. A lot. I have an Economic Stimulus Package."

Daniel: (talking to Justin)...and after that is the Great Chamber Pot of Destruction.
Me: What?
Daniel: But that's not for a while; they're in the small intestine right now.
Me: What are you talking about?
Daniel: This race I made up. They believe the entire universe is in the digestive system of a giant beast.
Me: And the end is called what?
Daniel: The Great Chamber Pot of Destruction. It's not quite as impressive as Judgment Day.

(And recently having watched Troy)

Me: (Justin has pretty much won, but I'm trying to encourage Daniel) It ain't over till the fat lady sings.
Justin: Who's the fat lady? You?
Me: Hey!
Justin: Well it's true.
Daniel: "It's no insult to say that a fat man is fat."
Me & Justin: ::cracking up::