Eyes on Word Choice

A few days ago, Zibbi noticed the moon out during the day.  She proclaimed that her eyesight is so fantastic she can even see the moon during the day.  She explained that she'd had an eye test during school.  Now she can see the moon during the day.  Apparently this is a side effect of school eye exams.  Who knew?

Benja was telling a story at the table, and he used the word "brang".  Lotta corrected him by saying, no, it's bringed.  I chimed in, to say that no, it's actually brought.  They both looked at me like I was crazy.  Brought.  Who came up with that crazy word?  Very soon after, again at the table Zibbi used the word lightened.  And Lotta once again corrected her with the word, "lit ened".  I again suggested an all together different word  "lit" and was met with a look of exasperation by all.  The English language is hard to explain.  Good thing I have Alexi and/or Siri to back me up. 

The mysterious mail carrier...

Lotta told me recently that she used to think the mail carrier was like Santa Claus.  He was not supposed to be seen by anyone, so would sneak around the neighborhood delivering mail only when no one was watching.  I told her at one point we had a super friendly mail carrier.  I would often chat with him while waiting at the bus stop.  One day after Ellie died, I was curious if he knew, by the mail we were receiving at the time, if he knew about Ellie's death.  I ended up telling him how she'd died recently, and how it was 13 days away from her birthday.  He stopped, shocked.  He told me that his daughter had the exact same birth day.  I could tell it really shook him up, made him feel vulnerable for his own family.  Soon after, his route was switched.  And I wondered if he'd requested a switch because he couldn't handle that kind of vulnerability.  I know the world doesn't actually revolve around me...Luckily, maybe a year later, I ran into him when I was walking around town.  We were both equally excited to see one another once more.  I was startled when he even leaned in for a hug.  He explained that he'd been reassigned another route, that he missed his old one.  And I of course, told him, we missed him too.  I just think it's so magical when you actually get closure on something and you don't have to just keep wondering what happened or making up your own endings.

Strengths Focus

The day Thom left for his recent business trip, I decided we would implement a strengths finding program during.  (As recommended in the book, "The Strengths Switch" by Lea Waters, PhD.)  The idea is to identify and write down any strengths you see a family member exhibiting in order to encourage more use of strengths.  I went to Dollar Tree and after MUCH debate and texting with my friend Jennifer, I purchased a clip board for each child with "computer paper".  I like that it's called "computer paper", it makes me want to take it home and try to stick it in my laptop.  Anyway.  When the girls arrived home from school, I explained what we were going to do.  Basically, we were going to try to catch other family members using his/her strength, forcing us to think about what we LIKED rather than what we didn't.  The conversation ended with Zibbi smacking Lotta across the face and Lotta retaliating with a swift kick.  As Thom proclaimed when I described the scene, "NO, not THAT kind of strength!!"

Sensible and Safe

Always wear a helmet when riding an oversize bike.

For some reason, Zibbi decided it would be a good idea to crawl into the bathtub head first, I know in her mind it somehow made all the sense in the world.  Her hands were supporting her, but she very nearly splatted across the tub.  When she emerged from this debacle, she explained how important it is to protect your head because your brain controls everything!  Maybe even your heart.  (They are discussing safety at school right now).  I responded with how that was why having a tumor in her brain was so problematic for Ellie.  I went on to say that we do have a skull to protect our brains from occasional head injury.  Not to encourage head banging, I cautioned that the problem happens when your brain is repeatedly hit, such as for football players.  Even the helmet cannot protect their brains from repeated assault.  Then, Zibbi stopped and wondered if Ellie had played football.  I said that she had not.  Then Zibbi wondered how Ellie had a tumor in her brain.  I told her that no one really knows why some people grow tumors.  But I thought that maybe before Ellie came into her body, she decided she wanted to come here and spread love and do that through having a brain tumor.  Even though she wouldn't be here long, she'd spread lots of joy in the short time she was here.  This explanation made NO sense at all to Zibbi (but again, she hadn't really proven her sensibility either...)

That Kindergarten Logic

Thom returned from a week long business trip to Las Vegas yesterday.  Benja is calling it Thom's "midlife crisis".  Zibbi pondered why it was call "lost"Vegas.  And we all decided because when you go there you LOSE a lot of money.  Lotta declared it's actually LOSS Vegas, not LOST Vegas. 

As we were preparing to leave the house one day, Zibbi suddenly sang, "damn".  Lotta and I stopped and said, "What did you say?"  She explained that she accidentally said "damn", but at least it wasn't it's much worse cousin, "dammit".  It's definitely becoming PG-13 around here...

Rocking Out!

Benja and I went to see School of Rock the musical (!).  When we arrived the usher shouted way up to the tippy top of the theatre that we were the ones in row O (the very last row).  If I'd had the energy, I would have raced up those stairs like Rocky.  It was exciting to feel "recognized", even for being the back row sitters.  To make you even more jealous, we had the entire back row to ourselves (all four seats).  Luxurious, I know.  So we spread out and enjoyed the view from up there.  I had consumed a large cup of tea and suddenly in the middle of the first act, I urgently needed to use the bathroom.  When we sat down, I noticed that there was an exit door close to our seats.  I took the door, but noticed as it closed, that it locked behind me.  I was confident there must be another way out.  I walked down the hallway and saw there was a staff bathroom, with a handwritten sign, requesting the door remain open.  I was desperate at this point, so I closed the door and peed as fast as I humanly could.  Feeling relieved, I emerged, ready to enjoy the rest of the show.  I saw a door back into the theatre, but it said, "staff only" also.  I checked it anyway.  It was locked.  I raced up and double checked the door I had emerged from.  Still locked.  There was one other option, the only door (besides the bathroom) that was open.  It said "Exit to Mifflin Street".  This being my only option, I took it. 

Again, the door locked behind me.  I raced down to the next floor.  It was locked.  The next floor, same deal...until, I made it to street level and exited the building.  I raced around the block, where every door was an exit door until finally finding the door we had originally entered.  Standing at the entrance were three security guards.  I must have looked strange, with no coat or bag, just a flustered person race walking into the building.  I quickly explained that I'd gotten locked out.  One of the guards, scoffed, saying this was not possible.  The other guard, realized I had exited the fire exit.  He offered to escort me back in.  As we began walking, he asked, "So you need to go back stage?"  I spluttered, no, I was in the audience, when he realized I wasn't actually a part of the show, he lost interest in me and pointed me towards an elevator.  In front of the elevator, there were two more ushers who asked what I was doing.  After explaining, once again, as quickly as I could, I raced up the elevator (OVERexplaining is the only kind of explaining I do).  Luckily the usher on my floor recognized me (I'm row O!)  During the intermission, Benja and I laughed over how funny it would have been if I'd ended up wandering on stage, yelling that I would find my way back to the last row.  I didn't leave our row again till the show was finished.  Just in case....

Becoming Street Wise...

A few weeks after school started, as we were eating dinner, Zibbi suddenly stuck her middle finger up and said, "Did you know this is a bad word??!!"  Apparently, one of her classmates had made the gesture in class and educated everyone else on how negatively this gesture is viewed by the surrounding adults.  What struck me was how easily Zibbi could stick up that one "naughty" finger, I'd never experienced anyone flipping me off with such beauty and ease.

Then, on Thanksgiving day, we watched School of Rock.  Benja and I were going to the musical the very next day (!!), we decided we should watch the original movie as research.  It is rated PG-13, but it is a 2003 PG-13, which I hoped was less risky than a 2018 PG-13 rating.  After the movie finished, we were working on getting Thanksgiving Dinner on the table.  Suddenly Zibbi shouted, "Dad, I know what your ass is."  Thom and I paused and, having misinterpreted some of her words in the past, inquired what she'd just said.  She repeated, "Dad, I know what your ass is."  Still unsure, we asked once more.  Zibbi responded that your "ass" is your "bummy".  No misunderstanding this time.  Maybe watching a PG-13 was a mistake, however, it was Thom's favorite part of the holiday.