4 year old Chloe is playing on the Playhouse Disney web site. it's really cute to see her with her little fingers working the tough pad...index finger of her right hand on moving the cursor, index finger on her left hand clicking the left mouse button. face intent on the screen as she's going through a Little Einstein's story or coloring Handy Manny.
We like the BBT theme song, and together we all shout "BANG" at the end of the song. "...it all started with a bang. BANG!"
But chloe's too in to her game, and Jenny wasn't really paying attention...so it was just me shouting BANG. I poked Chloe and said "BANG!" She ignored me. I pushed her again, shouted "BANG!" She ignores me. This going on for probably 3 straight minutes. She's just happily ignoring me, playing her game.
I say to her..."hey...you didn't say BANG"! She finally looks away from the computer and says "I'll say it as soon as I'm done with my game!" Jenny and I crack up. We get a kick out of little tough guy chloe. So we pester her some more, i put my hand in front of the laptop display. She tried pushing us away, then finally turns her back on the computer, sits on the ground, arms in front of her chest, pouty lip. just playing it up for all it's worth. The kid is a crack-up.
This is my family. It comes from my mom. We've always antagonized and terrorized one another. Everyone laughed, of course, except the target. We'd give my neice Mairi (pronounced Mary) a hard time when she was two...she's wearing a little mermaid tee-shirt, and we'd ask..."who is that...jasmine?" "no, it's ariel", says Mairi. "Is that Beauty?" "No...it's ariel". "is it Snow White?" "No...it's ARIEL!" and on we'd go until little Mairi is screaming and we're all laughing so hard we're crying.
For Christmas on year my mom bought a couple of gag gifts, and got my brother a Ross Perot t-shirt...i think Jerry got a kick out of him or something. But she gave the t-shirt to me. I opened it, looked at mom, and asked "what the hell is this?" She thought it was me who liked Perot...so every Christmas I had to give mom guff about not wanting another Perot t-shirt.
As a teenager I stuffed my mom's cigarettes with cigarette loads...she'd get soooo mad...partially at being surprised, partially at ruining a cigarette. i'd laugh....and push the load further into the next cigarette.
We'd end our phone conversations with "yeah, well i'm tired of talking to you, so i'm gonna go", to which the response is "yeah? well i was tired of talking to you before we started." mom would laugh whenever she got to say it first.
We'd have childish fun saying to one another "everyone likes me best" and "i called everyone up and they all said the hate you!" or my mom and me (or one of us and amy) could get into a converstaion that went something like this:
- "uhn-uhn"
- "uh-huh"
- repeat until someone in the room screams!
We have the most evil laughs...always to the benefit of someone elses folly. We were just rotten, and loved it.
I think I started telling chloe that nobody liked her before she was 6 weeks old. One of Jenny's aunts got really upset hearing me tell that to chloe when she was around 3...until chloe responded with "nobody likes YOU". We just shorten it to "NOBODY!"
We play a little game. My buddy told me on one of our trips up north for golfing that his family played a game when the traveled. The people on each side of the car were on a team. If you saw a group of cows on your side of the car, you earned one cow. If you passed a cemetary on your side of the car, the other team had to notice it and claim it, and you'd lose your cows. Well, the way me and jenny and chloe play it is just if you pass a cemetary the other team yells "You're a cow loser." doesn't matter if you had cows...all we care about is calling each other cow-losers. Chloe loves the game too, and gets the greatest s**t-eating grin on her face.
Chloe is my mother incarnate. Mom LOVED that. We look so forward to watching her grow up and cause trouble for everyone else.
On the sad side...my uncle passed away last week. My dad's younger brother, Larry. He moved away from Michigan to Connecticut...I don't ever remember him living here. None of us kids are able to go, none of us are in the financial situation to go. Dad went with his other brother, my uncle Wayne. Uncle Larry was married for a little while, but divorced after a few years...Aunt Robin realized all Uncle Larry really wanted was a maid and a cook. So I think Dad and Uncle Wayne are going to have to help get things straightened up out there.
