Thursday, August 8, 2013

Things We Learned Today


This is the cover of the Rolling Stones compilation CD which was released as a sort of 50th anniversary thing and it's got two CD's in it with twenty songs per. For some reason, Owen has taken to the second CD like it's his job and he plays it again and again and again and again...
Well, the first part of it, anyway. For some reason we never seem to hear more than the first ten songs. But boy oh boy do we hear those. "Brown Sugar" is the first cut and I would not be lying if I told you we probably heard that song twenty times today.
I finally had to say Enough!
He told me today, "Mer, you so wild."
"Why do you say that?" I asked him.
"Because you love the Rolling Stones!" he announced and then he ran to play "Brown Sugar" again.
Holy fuck.
I think it's hysterical that for some reason, the Stones still have a wild connotation to them.

I took a video of what passes for childcare around here today which is basically Owen and Gibson running up and down the hallway to the Stones with short stops for a bit of dancing. I looked up instructions on how to post a video from your iPhone to blogger but it's too damn complicated for me and I'm too damn exhausted to even try to figure it out. Forget it. Just trust me. If I put a pedometer on those kids, it would rank up into the many-miles. For them. I'm not running up and down that hallway all day but I bet I manage to get in a few miles too.

So anyway, one thing we learned today is that even Mermer has a limit on the number of times she can listen to "Brown Sugar" in one day.

Here's another thing we learned today: You can't grate a banana with a microplane grater. Owen has always been fascinated with my spices and he loves for me to grate a little bit of nutmeg for him to smell and of course, he wants to grate too. Well, today he figured it out and I showed him that you can also grate lime zest. He was impressed. So while I was off changing a poopy diaper or something, Owen grated enough nutmeg for a vat of rice pudding AND half a lime and then, he decided to venture off into the world of other fruit and choose a banana and that did not go well.
He thought I'd be mad but I wasn't. We did discuss the issue though.

The third thing we learned today is that tiny umbrellas make any drink a beach drink. Here's Owen enjoying one while watching the rain come in. In this case, the drink was water but since there was a tiny umbrella in it, it was a beach drink.


Can you believe how fast he's growing up? Do you realize he'll be four years old next month?
No way.
But yes.

Gibson learned that if you pull on certain cords in the hallway next to the piano, a phone will fall on your head. This was a painful lesson. Bless his heart.
He also learned that he can ride the horse and kiss his baby at the same time.


All of a sudden, he is a terrific horse rider. And he's always been a kisser and a hugger. That child is so full of affection that I practically need insulin at some points during the day. He's also learning words at a terrific rate but his favorite word around here, anyway, is still "Boppa" and he uses it all day long. "Boppa?" he asks me. 
"No, Boppa's not here, baby." 
Then Boppa did come home and it was all over. That boy loves his grandfather like the ocean loves the shore. 

Anyway, they'll be back at dawn tomorrow so I need to fix our supper and get to bed early. I've got the house semi-straightened up although why I bothered, I do not know because by 8:00 a.m. tomorrow it'll be trashed again. 

Oh- one more thing we learned today: Owen can make a volcano using antique Chanel No. 5 and the smell will linger for hours. Possibly days. We've yet to come anywhere near figuring out how long ancient Chanel No. 5 will stink up a place. And don't ask me how he made a volcano. I was five feet away, playing with Gibson on the bed and yet I have no idea what he did but he claimed it was a volcano and that's his story and he's sticking to it.

I may be too old for this.

Much love...Old Mermer




14 comments:

  1. If Owen an Gibson ever call you from Los Angeles, they are here, visiting with me. I will have peanut butter, bananas, little umbrellas, I will press shuffle on favorite songs and have no falling phones but free calls to Boppa whenever desired. I will have huggable stuffed animals and work on the cats to let Gibson ride them. Tell Lily they will have lots of fun and all of you can rest or come visit too. Sweet Jo

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  2. So funny! I would not be up to it for sure. Like I said, if they belong to you or are your blood, it is sheer love. For me, it would be not so much fun as you make it. But I sure would have liked for you to be a baby sitter.

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  3. I was wondering if you would notify me when the next session of Camp Moon was enrolling? I would like to attend.

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  4. You are one of the funniest funnest writers on this very planet and I can't believe what rolls off your brain and into this blog sometimes, but I am so grateful. I'm starting to half believe those grandchildren are part of my own family.

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  5. Awesome, awesome post. The part about the boys running up and down the hallway really cracked me up, and it reminded me of my own boys' early childhood and how they would get out of bed and run to the kitchen or run to the living room, etc. My girlfriends and I would say that we'd be so skinny if we did the same -- but how hilarious!

    I know it's tiring and wonderful all at once, but I do hope you'll continue to regale us with these days with the boys.

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  6. I'm still laughing. What sweet fun. Do you know I have very clear memories of sitting on (not at) a bar and eating the olives out of my mom's martini? I was about Owen's age then.

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  7. Oh, May! I love your grandchildren stories because you remind me of my Nana. She loved meso much and she was so much fun! She had a cuckoo clock that she would make cuckoo for me. Around and around she would spin the dials. Again, Nana!, I would shout and she would. She never seemed to grow tired of it. She must of however because I remember her light sigh and asking if it was time for cookies. (It was always time for cookies.)

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  8. grating bananas...hahahahahahahahahahaha. Only at your house.

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  9. Ha! Well, if you have to have a volcano, Chanel No. 5 sounds better than a lot of other things that could erupt out of it!

    The phone lesson made me wince. Ouch.

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  10. The way Owen talks to you just cracks me up. You a wild woman MerMer. Oh yes. Those boys are coming up righter than right, though Im sorry about the phone falling on poor Gibson. Do you have any idea how enriched your grandsons lives are by you in it? And Boppa too of course. It makes me so happy.

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  11. Sweet Jo- And I am sure they would have the time of their lives with you.

    Syd- You're right. If these boys weren't my grandsons...well, I couldn't even do it. As a scientist, I am sure you understand the evolutionary properties of grandmother love.

    SJ- Do you like Chex Mix with ants in it? Because that's a staple here. Along with smoothies and The Rolling Stones.

    Andrea- It takes a village...

    Elizabeth- What else do I have to regale you with? Of course I will!

    Denise- And you turned out just fine. Right?

    Birdie- I need to work on that cookie thing. Really. I do.

    Beth Coyote- It was freaking awesome- a banana in the midst of being grated. Bless Owen's little heart. I should have made banana custard with it and used the nutmeg.

    Steve Reed- Over 24 hours later and the perfume still lingers. Damn.

    Angella- Only time will tell, you know? And I'm doing the best I can and sometimes that feels like plenty and sometimes it feels like not nearly enough.

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  12. I love all of those things. Along with peanut butter with ants in it,as I discovered at my house this morning. It's a sweet life :)

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  13. My blog roll, it is too long. Too much to read, too little time and all that - but your writing is just too delightful to miss. Love your perspective.

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  14. SJ- Owen is completely charmed to eat ants. These the teeny tiny ones. I doubt they'll hurt him and there aren't many.

    rebeccalyr- Well, honey, welcome to the community. I'm so glad you feel feel at home here.

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