Life at Court
Emily's version of the same night goes a little something like this: We drive home from Ms. Pat's. All the while I am getting the blow-by-blow account of the day. Blake's birthday is coming soon. But nobody knows how old he'll be, Daddy remind me the next time I go to Ms. Pat's to ask about how old Blake will be okay? Three of the friends played "Club". One of the friends didn't want to take a nap. Sometimes it's like she has a dictated memo of the days events and it all comes spilling out. Sometime during this monologue we stopped by the Magic Tree where Em informed me that the last time she went to the Magic Tree she got to go over the Magic Bridge and Aunt Jenn took pictures, but...we aren't doing that tonight so...I guess the last time will still be my favorite time.
And then we had vocab time where Emily picked out a word I'd said and started grilling me about it. "What does decision mean." Well it means a choice, when you pick between two things that's a decision and people get to make decisions about all kinds of things. "Oh, okay."
As you can tell, Emily is a talker. Usually that's great, sometimes it's a trial and other times her bluntness will both crack you up and punch you in the gut. A wise man from the east once said "kids say the darnedest things." Indeed.
We get home, Emily plays and plays while I attempt to contain the Katie whirlwind. Then it's Em's turn for supper (usually we eat all together, but tonight it just wasn't happenin'). We get to the end of supper and she'd eaten incredibly well so I made tortillas with cinnamon and sugar and butter. The three-year-old epicure noted "Daddy you did a good job on these, they were just as good as Ms. Pat's." I mean, I love Ms. Pat so that's high praise, but come on kid can I get a break here?
Then the Katie Protection Agency was back in full swing and Emily was REALLY wishing that I could play princesses with her (remember the princes are Action Figures). Katie calms down for a few minutes while laughing uproariously at her ball popper - amazing invention. So I sit down with Emily at the kitchen table - the princes, princesses, castle and dwarfs had to be relocated because Katie was eating Prince Charming. And this is what occurred (reader caution: this might be PG 13):
Emily: Daddy, it's marrying time for all the princes and princesses!
Daddy (already uncomfortable): Uhm... o...kay.
Emily: what we're going to do is get everyone ready for the marrying. I'll tell you who's getting married and you hand them to me and I'll have them walk into the castle to get married.
First, I'm not entirely pleased that she is aware of the concept of people marrying (but as a future nun she'll be marrying the church right? So maybe it's okay). So right off the bat, I'm a little off my game. Then we get rolling and she starts telling me the pairings:
Okay, she says, first we need Gus (the giant mouse from Cinderella) and Happy (the rotund dwarf from Snow White). My instinct tells me, well, yeah sure they're both kind of obese and they'd have that to talk about. But really a mouse and a dwarf? It won't last. Next couple: Phillipe (the horse whose twin brother Emily has named Phallop - it's phillipe and phallop, seriously) marrying Garlic. Now I should stop here and tell you that Garlic is a -human- prince that came with the castle Emily got for Christmas. There was a princess, whom she promptly named Marge, which on its own is certainly poetic, and the accompanying prince whose name was...Garlic. So Phillipe the Horse is marrying Garlic the Prince. Uhm...somewhere this train has leaped the tracks. Banjos are playing, and everything has taken on a very weird Arkansas feel.
Next couple: Marge (Garlic's former love) and Sleeping Beauty. Naturally, Sleeping Beauty would need someone to marry because her former love Prince Phillip is in line to marry Prince Charming. I'm a pretty broad-minded guy, but I felt that this was all getting a little out there for a three-year-old. So I say eloquently "Wait , What?"
So I say (in probably non-PC fashion) "usually Emily the princes go with a princess. The boy marries a girl. Just like Mommy, a girl, married Daddy, a boy." And she says "Oh, right." And starts to rearrange things and goes:
"There we go Daddy now Gus, a boy, is marrying Cinderella, a girl!"
"Emily, Gus is a mouse or rat or portly rodent."
"So, they're getting married, they made their DECISION."
And so I retired from the field of intellectual combat clearly having been defeated once again.
That was the night with Emily and Katie. Both are so much fun and so incredibly different, and it's amazing that all of these things can be going on in parallel. It's quite the life. Maybe we will have 25-30 more kids.
And then we had vocab time where Emily picked out a word I'd said and started grilling me about it. "What does decision mean." Well it means a choice, when you pick between two things that's a decision and people get to make decisions about all kinds of things. "Oh, okay."
As you can tell, Emily is a talker. Usually that's great, sometimes it's a trial and other times her bluntness will both crack you up and punch you in the gut. A wise man from the east once said "kids say the darnedest things." Indeed.
We get home, Emily plays and plays while I attempt to contain the Katie whirlwind. Then it's Em's turn for supper (usually we eat all together, but tonight it just wasn't happenin'). We get to the end of supper and she'd eaten incredibly well so I made tortillas with cinnamon and sugar and butter. The three-year-old epicure noted "Daddy you did a good job on these, they were just as good as Ms. Pat's." I mean, I love Ms. Pat so that's high praise, but come on kid can I get a break here?
Then the Katie Protection Agency was back in full swing and Emily was REALLY wishing that I could play princesses with her (remember the princes are Action Figures). Katie calms down for a few minutes while laughing uproariously at her ball popper - amazing invention. So I sit down with Emily at the kitchen table - the princes, princesses, castle and dwarfs had to be relocated because Katie was eating Prince Charming. And this is what occurred (reader caution: this might be PG 13):
Emily: Daddy, it's marrying time for all the princes and princesses!
Daddy (already uncomfortable): Uhm... o...kay.
Emily: what we're going to do is get everyone ready for the marrying. I'll tell you who's getting married and you hand them to me and I'll have them walk into the castle to get married.
First, I'm not entirely pleased that she is aware of the concept of people marrying (but as a future nun she'll be marrying the church right? So maybe it's okay). So right off the bat, I'm a little off my game. Then we get rolling and she starts telling me the pairings:
Okay, she says, first we need Gus (the giant mouse from Cinderella) and Happy (the rotund dwarf from Snow White). My instinct tells me, well, yeah sure they're both kind of obese and they'd have that to talk about. But really a mouse and a dwarf? It won't last. Next couple: Phillipe (the horse whose twin brother Emily has named Phallop - it's phillipe and phallop, seriously) marrying Garlic. Now I should stop here and tell you that Garlic is a -human- prince that came with the castle Emily got for Christmas. There was a princess, whom she promptly named Marge, which on its own is certainly poetic, and the accompanying prince whose name was...Garlic. So Phillipe the Horse is marrying Garlic the Prince. Uhm...somewhere this train has leaped the tracks. Banjos are playing, and everything has taken on a very weird Arkansas feel.
Next couple: Marge (Garlic's former love) and Sleeping Beauty. Naturally, Sleeping Beauty would need someone to marry because her former love Prince Phillip is in line to marry Prince Charming. I'm a pretty broad-minded guy, but I felt that this was all getting a little out there for a three-year-old. So I say eloquently "Wait , What?"
So I say (in probably non-PC fashion) "usually Emily the princes go with a princess. The boy marries a girl. Just like Mommy, a girl, married Daddy, a boy." And she says "Oh, right." And starts to rearrange things and goes:
"There we go Daddy now Gus, a boy, is marrying Cinderella, a girl!"
"Emily, Gus is a mouse or rat or portly rodent."
"So, they're getting married, they made their DECISION."
And so I retired from the field of intellectual combat clearly having been defeated once again.
That was the night with Emily and Katie. Both are so much fun and so incredibly different, and it's amazing that all of these things can be going on in parallel. It's quite the life. Maybe we will have 25-30 more kids.
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