M: “I never thought I would say this, but I might miss Bill Clinton.”

Chichimama: “Really????  Can I blog this????”

M: “Yes, yes, you can.”

C: “Mom!  Mom!  I figured out what I am giving up for Lent!”

Chichimama: “Oh!  Ah, great! What?”

C: “I’m giving up cleaning my room!”

C: “Why aren’t we taking the expressway?  It is faster.”

Chichimama: “Huh?  What are you talking about?”

C: “The Cross Bronx Expressway.  It said it on the sign back there.”

Chichimama: “Oh, sweetie, there is NOTHING fast about the Cross Bronx Expressway.”

C: “Well, they should really change the name to the Cross Bronx Parkway then.”

Chichimama: “Snort.”

A: “And my friend T was back!  She had been out for a whole week!”

Chichimama: “What did she have?”

A: “I don’t know.  She didn’t say.”

C: “Well ASK her.”

A: “She doesn’t talk much, even at circle time.”

C: (under his breath): “I wish I had that problem.  Then I wouldn’t get in trouble all the time.”

Chichimama: ” I don’t understand!  Our gas usage was higher this year than last, but the average outside temp is the same and I am keeping the temperature lower!”

M: “I am sick of being cold!  I turn the heat up when you aren’t looking.”

Chichimama: “Ah.  Then this is all on your head.”

M: “I am fine with that.”

A: “Mom!  The fairy princes are coming over!  Distract them at the door while we finish cleaning up the house!”

—————————————–

(About that knit-a-long, am frantically knitting for Christmas.  Can we regroup after the holidays?”

A: “I LOVED my bouncy seat, didn’t I!”

Chichimama: “Um, why do you say that?”

A: “Because in all the pictures of me as a baby I am sitting in it!  I never wanted to get out of it, did i?”

Chichimama: “Um, yeah.  Something like that…”

About five minutes later…

A: “I wore my pajamas a lot when I was a baby, didn’t I.”

Chichimama: “Yep.  You sure did.”

M: “Did you HEAR what they just said on the news?  72 is the optimal temperature for energy savings.”

Chichimama: “Yeah, for a New Yorker, maybe.  Just think how much MORE we are saving by keeping the thermostat at 64.”

M: “I didn’t grow up in New England you know.”

Chichimama: “Yeah, well, I did.  64 is plenty warm.”

M: “Hmmph.”

M: “I think I am embracing this whole light beer thing.”

Chichimama: “Really???”

M: “Yep.  In fact, I think I might even have to investigate O’Doul’s.  (Pause) I’m old, aren’t I?”

Chichimama: ” You know I have to blog this, right?”

Later, as M is trying to put together some new bookcases…

Chichimama: “Are you READING the DIRECTIONS?”

(M give Chichimama a nasty look.)

Chichimama: “First non-alcoholic beer, then direction reading!  Before you know it, you will be walking into gas stations and asking for help in finding the highway!”

M: “NEVER!  I have GPS!”

C: “Mom!  Is this a snail or a periwinkle?”

Chichimama: “A periwinkle.”

C: (running back over to his friends) “My mom said it is a periwinkle, and she is usually right.  But don’t tell her I said that!”

———-

A: “I love love love love love the beach.  I love it almost as much as I love you.”

___________

C: “I am the oldest cousin!  I have been coming here longer than everyone else.  That makes me the expert.”

———–

A: “I am going to move to Maine when I grow up.”

Chichimama: “Why?”

A: “Because everyone here loves the Red Sox just like me!”

Chichimama: “I can’t WAIT to tell your father that!”

____________

Chichimama: “Did you say goodbye to the beach?”

C: “Yeah…”

Chichimama: “Were you sad?”

C: “No, of course not.  I know I will see it next year.”

A: “I didn’t say goodbye, because I have all the sand in my shoes to bring home with me.”

___________