Fun Conversations

A couple of Tripp moments to share with you guys.

Two days ago, we were in the car and Megan was talking about a game they'd played at camp, where each person draws to see whether they are predator or prey. She said that she picked being an animal who didn't eat meat. Tripp said "You mean a vegetarian?"

Last night, we were driving home, sans Megan (who was gone to a friend's house for a sleepover.) Tripp asked when we were going to pick up Megan. Vince replied, "Never." Tripp's response...."AWESOME!"

Wait, what?

Yesterday I was using the bathroom. While I sat there, Vince came to the door, opened it slightly, held out a pair of latex gloves and asked "Do you need these?" I still have not figured out exactly what it is he thinks I do while in the bathroom.

Another day, another whine

I found this picture on wikipedia that I think is a fairly accurate description of how my headaches feel. The only things that could make it a better representation is if the guy had huge claws on his feet that he dug into the back of the skull...and perhaps if the hands and feet were on fire.

The boy's birthday list

remote control cars
lamp (not a girl color)
a laptop
a beach ball net
Ironman toys
hot Cheetos
a fishing pole

A Night in the Life

Saturday night. Easter Eve. It's late. The kids have decided to sleep on the pullout couch in the living room, but that they're watching a movie before going to sleep. This means that I can't go out the front door to get the Easter baskets out of the car.

My plan was to go out the sliding door downstairs, go the side of the house, go through the fence, get the baskets out of my car and bring them into my bedroom.

What actually happened was that I went downstairs and out the sliding door, just as the kids decided to chase one of the cats downstairs. They noticed the open door and locked it. When I got to the fence, I dropped my cell phone. I have no idea why I was carrying it. The battery fell out. I picked up the pieces, got the baskets out of the car, and went back around to the sliding door. Which is now locked. I thought my best option at this point was to scale the terraced walls under our bedroom window (did I mention that I had on a robe? JUST a robe) and try to get Vince's attention. He came down to let me in. Followed by both kids. I managed to leave the baskets out of sight, and convince the kids that I was just out there smoking a cigarette. Then I got a cigarette lecture. "Those are bad for you, you know." We all went back in, a few minutes later, I went back for the baskets. And all was well in the Velie household.

Hey! That's my job!

Yesterday, while in the car, a song was playing that has the word "ass" in it. Tripp knows the song and always waits patiently for them to sing "ass", so he can chuckle to himself. But yesterday, hearing "ass" while Megan was in the car sparked a memory and he said, "Hey, Megan. Remember when you got in that fight with the boy at school?"

Immediately, I looked at Megan, who tried to defend herself by explaining the situation to me. Evidently, a bigger boy threatened to kick Tripp in the balls. She said that she told him to leave Tripp alone. I suspect that the words "...or I will kick your ass" may have been spoken. I didn't clarify, though, because I was so shocked that Megan had stood up for Tripp. She spends most of her time tormenting him in a million different ways. I was wondered for a minute about what sort of inner monologue she experienced and decided that it was probably something along the lines of "if anyone's gonna kick him in the balls, it's going to be me!"

War

The past few nights, Tripp has cried at bedtime, very much afraid that someone was going to kill him. I had a bit of trouble getting an explanation out of him. Case in point, the first night, he told me that "The Indians are going to kill him." I asked "What Indians?" His response; "The ones in Kenya."

Then tonight, he finally asked a question that gave me the key to the whole problem. He asked "What happens if we lose the war? Will we all die?" It seems that the news has done its job in scaring the population. My response to him was first to explain that the war is being fought in another country, far from here. Then I explained that if we lose the war, then our soldiers just come home (I didn't mention dead soldiers) and that the people living in the place where they're fighting the war will either continue to fight amongst themselves, or will start to rebuild.

Children afraid to go to bed at night, due to a "real" bogeyman. People afraid to fly, due to the same "real" bogeyman. Are we that lacking in basic safety? Should we be afraid to leave our blinds open and lights on at night? Is attack imminent? I think not. But I'm sure that several of you are going to bash my naivete and explain to me just how horrible the world has become. Yeah, just recently, wars started. They never existed before. Cultures have never tried to wipe out other cultures, just because they were deemed offensive. Countries have never wiped out "lesser" civilizations in order to obtain easier shipping routes. And countries have never attacked other countries for any other type of financial gain.

These things have always existed. The powers that be seek to control other countries through brute force and the inhabitants of their own country through fear. Through little boys crying in their beds. How many generations do we have to go through before we get this right? How many mothers have to soothe their children about pointless fears before the mothers figure out a way to eliminate them? Will this be the way of things through the end of the human race?

I dunno. But at least the boy stopped crying and went to sleep, no longer concerned that a violent Kenyan Indian was going to jump through the window and kill him.