—1—
Over dinner, the kids were asking me about movie ratings and what they mean. When they got to "R," the 6-year-old wanted to know why a movie would be rated R.
"Well," I explained, "Things like lots of people swearing, or people killing, or-"
My 16-year-old looked up. "Or people saying 'irregardless'..."
Don't even get her started on when they pronounce 'nuclear' wrong. She would make that NC-17.
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| This mug {affiliate link} is a related reason why our family is a delight to be around. |
—2—
It's been about two months since I've touched my language exchange app, where I have conversations with Spanish-speaking people. I've been studying, but haven't practiced speaking at all (except occasionally to myself.)
Part of the reason is that I've been legitimately busy since Christmas. But the other part, if I'm honest, is that I'm such a beginner that more often than not, conversations are just harder and more embarrassing than I have the energy to initiate on a regular basis. I'd sort of decided that I just need to get a better handle on the basics before I start attempting to converse with people in the wild.
But when one of my old practice partners popped up on my phone asking ¿cómo has estado? I started to feel kind of bad, because I just disappeared but he still says hi every couple of weeks. So I picked it up and had a short conversation with him.
And I was definitely out of practice, because when he asked about my extended family, I accidentally told him that he loved me (instead of saying that I loved them.) So that was great.
—3—
My 16-year-old needed to shake up her French curriculum for homeschool so she decided to watch a French language movie, and invited me to watch with her.
But the thing is, I don't know a word of French. So we decided on Big Hero 6 with French audio and Spanish subtitles, so we could both practice our respective target languages.
It was a little disorienting at first, but once she adjusted to ignoring the subtitles and I adjusted to ignoring the audio, it was fun.
—4—
When I picked my 6-year-old up from gymnastics, the first words out of his mouth were "What's for dinner?"
"Fettucine alfredo," I answered. I haven't made it before, but I've been trying some new recipes lately.
"Is it disgusting?"
Which tells you how the new recipes are being received so far.
—5—
Phillip was out of town this past weekend. He used to travel a lot, before COVID, so there's a pretty marked difference between how things are now versus how I remember it being when he left me with babies and toddlers.
With littles, it's all spilled juice and diaper blowouts as far as the eye can see, and being constantly pawed at for days without a break. It is extremely emotionally draining.
But here's the thing about when they're older: it's not as emotionally draining, but it is physically impossible. We had several nights where 3 kids had 3 separate activities in 3 locations that are nowhere near each other at 6pm, and I'm currently the only licensed driver in the house.
At least now they sleep through the night and are happy to let me use the bathroom in privacy.
—6—
The night after Phillip came back was our daughter's orchestra concert, and we even managed to sneak in a sort of date beforehand. We grabbed some dinner and then headed over to Shake Shack for dessert. And when our shakes were ready, the lady at the counter looked at Phillip's name on the order and yelled, "PHIL!"
Ugh.
What is it about his name that causes every stranger to compulsively shorten it? I swear, that man has never been called by his full name unless he's specifically corrected them: "Oh, it's Phillip, actually." (Which he only does if I'm present and I shoot him a withering look, otherwise he just sighs and lets them call him Phil until one of them dies.)
I'm starting to think maybe he should just start going by 'Flip,' so people start getting it right. Or closer to right, anyway. At the very least, it's what he should write on our Shake Shack orders from now on.
—7—
Tickets for our daughter's orchestra are no charge, because it's a student orchestra of a music conservatory, and while we were going in, Phillip said something to the effect of "It's nice that we get to go to a free concert!"
But we both realized pretty quickly that wasn't exactly true, and not just because the conservatory's tuition to be in the orchestra is ridiculous. We also got a parking ticket while enjoying the free music.
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