The Political Discussion

     Danny is a very opinionated kid, and lets everyone know his viewpoint at every turn.   He is continually spewing his political opinions and I am constantly getting sucked into the debate, despite my better judgement.  Even those times that I happen to agree with his views, we never seem to be on the same side of the argument.  Tonight at dinner, he started in on his usual rant and once again, I bit; but I quickly ended the discussion.  I said, "Danny, I've told you many times that I don't want to have these political debates and I am very aware of your opinion.  I don't need to be reminded of it during dinner every night.  I am happy to hear about your day and what is going on in your life, but I don't want to have the same volatile conversation every day."  Not backing down, he said,  "Mom, in our house we can discuss things.  I'm just trying to have a conversation.  You're taking away my rights." 
"What?!  What rights am I taking away from you?"
"My freedom of speech."
"Well, your freedom of speech is going to be limited in this house so I can have a pleasant dinner"
He picked up his plate, brought it over to the counter and said, "Sheesh!  Kim Jong-Mom."
(1/23/14)

Irish Pride

The Irish are well known, as a people, to be especially proud of their heritage.  Tom, being the son of 2 Irish parents, and I, being the daughter of an Irish mother who would dress herself in head to toe green every St. Patrick's Day with a rather large "Kiss Me I'm Irish" pin adorning her sweater and a funny looking hat to match, are quite familiar with this pride.  Danny, James and Katie would often have lengthy discussions about being Irish.  Whenever they would ask me about my heritage , I would tell them that my mother's parents emigrated from Ireland and my father's parents emigrated from Austria.  They would almost always refer to me as  Australian, and  Tom would explain to them that Austria is a country with Germanic people, and although my grandparents came from Austria, they were German.  One of the kids would then inevitably say, "I didn't know Australians were German" or "Why didn't you just say you were German?" .   They would occasionally bring up this topic and the same question would be asked and answered repeatedly.
     One day I overheard the tail end of one of their "being Irish" discussions.  Danny was in mid sentence when I heard him say, "...but Mom is only half  Irish."  James then asked, "What else is she, again?"  Danny replied, "German or something...I just know that she isn't as Irish as the rest of us."  I'm not sure what was said in the first part of the conversation, but I am pretty sure I should feel insulted.   

The Christmas List

To quash my pre Christmas shopping anxiety, I asked the kids to start their Christmas wish lists.   I looked over Katie's list and saw that the first item listed was a Toys R Us gift card.  (11/10/13

The Vocabulary Lesson

James has always been very studious and takes his homework seriously.  During one of his 5th grade vocabulary lessons, his teacher told the class that they should try to start incorporating their vocabulary words into everyday conversation.   Taking a bite of his dinner,  James reported, "This doesn't taste like the regular chicken burger".  I replied, "It's  homemade with the lean chicken.  Do you like it?"  James hesitated and said, "I like the other one better."  To quickly spare my feelings he added, "It's not that this one is bad, it's just insipid."   That's the problem with having a smart kid.  He can insult my cooking with intelligence.  (9/24/13)

The Radio Commercial

I was driving James and Katie home from school when the infamous "Cars for Kids" commercial came on the radio.  "1-877 cars for kids; K-A-R-S, CARS FOR KIIIIDS!" After singing the chorus several times, Katie and James began discussing the merits of the commercial.  While they both praised the song, James said, "If you really think about it, it's  kind of a dumb commercial.  Who is going to donate their car to a kid?  Kids can't even drive!" (9/3/2013)

The Raisin Bran Request

One morning, while perusing through the vast number of cereal boxes in the cabinet, Danny said to me, "Mom, can you buy Raisin Bran?"  I turned around to see a brand new box sitting right in his view.  Pointing it out, I said, "It's right there in the cabinet".   He said, "No, I mean the good kind." 
"That is the good kind!"
"No.  The other one has less raisins in it."
"You mean you want less raisins?"
"Yes," he replied, " I don't really like raisins" (9/4/13)

The Truth

 James told me that he was working on a special  card for Tom's birthday.  He said, "I'm making an acrostic poem on the front."  I said, "Wow, that's a great idea.  Dad will love that. Are you using the word 'Dad' for the poem?"  He said, "No, I'm using 'Father' because it's longer and has lots of different letters."  He paused and said, "For the 'A'  I wrote 'Awesome.'  And for the 'E' I wrote 'Expert on Everything'.  Oh! and for the 'H' I wrote 'Helpful in Every Way'.  I can't remember what I wrote for the other letters. "   I commented on how nice that was, and jokingly asked, "For the 'F' did you write 'Farts A Lot'?"
Taking me seriously, and clearly offended, James chastised me and said, "Moooooom!!! No! Of course not!  That's not nice! I'm  writing things that are going to make him feel good!  I'm not going to write the truth!!"  (5/11/13)