Oh, and another thing . . .

The other night, while enjoying dinner, my wife and I were talking about her day at work and what we were going to do that evening. Our 16 year old made a HUGE mistake and walked into the kitchen - which prompted my wife to say "Oh, and another thing (while turning to face our son) YOUR CAR IS A PIGSTY! Then her eyes narrowed and to emphasize her point she repeated "PIGSTY, it's disgusting". Our son has learned a great deal from me in how to stand up to his mother when she is yelling. He kept his mouth shut, bowed his head slightly and concentrated on staring through the floor to China.

Evidently my wife was right. Later that night our son filled one trash bag and brought in two baskets of "stuff" consisting of a sleeping bag and pillow (from a retreat he went to in early August), a broken umbrella, four jackets and, well the list goes on . . .

While my wife was busy playing Mahjong with her girlfriends I sneaked out to my car with a bottle of Windex and paper towels. Just to make sure it would pass any surprise inspection.

another ride in the car

Awhile back, lots of years really, my wife was driving the kids to day care. My daughter, 17 months younger than my son, had a stick of some sorts in her hand. She waved it at her brother and said "poof you are a frog". Shrieking my son says, "Mommy, no. Tell her no. I do not want to be a frog." To which my daughter replied, "Poof, you are a frog.". Again her older brother complains that he does not want to be a frog. As my wife pulls into the parking spot she tells our son; "Don't worry - you are not a frog." As the car stops she hears my daughter whisper, "Poof. You ARE a frog." And thus my wife had to explain why my son had tears in his eyes as they walked into day care.