EFL

One of the most fun things about 3-year-old Nate is that he still says funny things.  There’s nothing better than hanging around with an English as a First Language learner.

A few weeks back when the World Cup started, he “watched” a couple of games with me.  As usual, he had a lot of questions.  Most of his questions centered around which guys were the blue guys and the green guys and the white guys.  I frequently find myself in public places like the snack bar at the swimming pool putting cream cheese on bagels and discreetly explaining “the white guys” on TV.  During the World Cup his questions mostly revolved around what they were wearing, “Why they have to wear unicorns?  Why you don’t wear unicorns for your soccer games?”

Around the same time we went to visit Nonna and Papa and spent an afternoon in their pool.  Nate mostly spent time sitting on the edge with his toesies in the water.  At one point he got ahold of a boogie board and put it under his feet while he sat on the side.  And then he proclaimed, “I’m surfing… on a websiiiite!”  Do we say that?  Who says that?

When I was in eighth grade I remember sitting in Dr. Matlack’s chair as he removed my braces.  The key question I asked as he was fitting me for my retainers, “Am I going to have to wear these when I’m a grandma?”  I guess I’ve always been a long-term thinker.  He says to me, “Do you want straight teeth when you’re a grandma?”

“After these two years of hell?  Clearly.”  Of course I didn’t say that.  I was a total goodie-two-shoes.

“Yes.”

“Then you’ll have to wear them when you’re a grandma.”

And just like when he was a baby, Nate still finds my teeth and my nightguard and my retainers endlessly fascinating.  He says to me, “When I gwow-up I’m going to have containers, too.”

Then tonight at dinner, James mixed-up the usual weeknight routine with a piping hot dish of lasagna.  The boys were lured into the kitchen by the smell of what they thought was pizza.  Seafood and Brussels sprouts are no big deal, but lasagna?  Took way more selling than one would expect for pasta, tomato sauce, ground meat and cheese.  Nate refused to eat it declaring, “I don’t like Arizona!”

I know it’s hot, but do you want a cookie?  Two bites of Arizona.  Make it happen.