09 June 2008

A conversation between M- & D-: I say 'No' to you, sir

The following is a conversation between D-, my 4-year-old son son, and M-, my 1-year-old daughter, this weekend when it was 87 degrees (may or may not be the Celsius reading) and humid:

D-: (like a siren singing) M-...

M-: (flatly) No.

D-: (leading question) Are you hottt??

M-: (visibly sweating) No.

D-: (frustrated but sticking with the happy, urging voice) Yes you are-- you wanna go to the poooool??? (emphasis employed to make it sound more exciting)

M-: (still steady as a federal agent) No.

D-: (stares blankly, then sighs) Eghhh...

Well, that gives him a little taste of what we go through with this 'un. He usually thinks it's funny when she goes into this mode, but this time he just wore a confused look that plainly showed he found her unsalvageably unreasonable and thought we should all abandon her to her own selfish devices.

And so we carried on sweating before walking over two miles* to the pool across town that cruelly opened weeks before the one just a few blocks from our house. But let me tell you, those kids will have some stories for their kids, and one day they'll thank me.


* It was uphill both ways.

12 comments:

Mama Dawg said...

Yeah, don't count it. I'm still waiting on thank you's. Granted, she's only 8, but I thought by now I'd at least get a couple of thank you's due to me from her infancy.

I love how you walked 2 miles uphill both ways. Man, that's gotta be tiring! ;)


How come I'm almost always first on your comments?

Anonymous said...

We have a pool, and it's great... except that a few days ago our pump decided to spew sand into the pool, and now there's a 2 week wait for the pool maintenance company. Cruel? Too.


Mama Dawg: Maybe you have some sort of Literal Dan mind meld that tells you when he's got a fresh post?

Rikki said...

I am sure when she retells it to her kids, the weather will be 20 degrees warmer and the walk 2 miles farther (with a steeper incline).

Anonymous said...

I venture to say that there may come a time when you are grateful for such stubborness...then again, maybe not.

Laski said...

Well, she's got one word down . . .

I can only imagine how that pool must have felt after that epic journey :)

Mama Dawg said...

Andrea...that must be it. I guess the closer I get up the minion ladder, the more our minds seem to meld.

Hmmmm.....things to ponder.

MsPicketToYou said...

my older girls ROLL THEIR EYES at their little brother and have once even said "why did we teach him to talk?"

Kevin McKeever said...

You need to take advantage of this to teach some valuable life lessons:

Will you ever take drugs? No.
Is it a good idea to use a cat for a towel? No.
Will you ever wear socks and sandals? No.

SherE1 said...

I love how she's the boss of him already. Good to teach them early!

Unknown said...

Too funny. Uphill both ways, huh? Smiles!

Natalie said...

i am looking forward to the weather warming up so that we can pay the $10 for adults and $7 for kids to go to the hotel pool up the road. there isn't a community pool here. one of the hotels outside of town does have a water park...another place i plan to visit this summer. hopefully. if we don't have water cuts. like last summer. when we only had water every other day. the pools weren't even allowed to open then. man...it better warm up quick!

LiteralDan said...

Mama Dawg: Yeah I'm pretty sure we won't get thank yous till maybe 25, or whenever they have their own kids, if ever.

I think you're just lucky, I guess. Maybe I could up the ante with some kind of contest, to give you some real competition?

Andrea @ Sweet Life: Hmm... I was envying you and your pool up to the point with the spewing. I think I'll return to my original opinion that a private pool is probably not worth the maintenance hassle. I'm extremely lazy, in case you haven't gotten that from past posts.

I think I would feel violated if someone was melding with my mind without my consent. I'll have to be more vigilant in the future.

Rikki: And here I thought _I_ was upping the ante-- leave it to our children to dream of things we never thought possible. Excuse me while I wipe away this single tear.

Christy: I'm pretty sure that stubbornness will be a huge pain 98% of the time. We are preparing ourselves.

Laski: Oh, the pool felt glorious. Let me really bite into the word-- gllllllorrrrrrriousssss!

Mama Dawg: Stop melding! No means no!!

Ms Picket To You: That's great-- I bet they'll use that one a lot as teenagers. In fact, I think I might break that one out with my sister.

Always Home and Uncool: Hmmm... I could to add to these life lessons. But what's wrong with socks and sandals??? Just kidding.

My favorite is to tell her to say "No", so she can say it in defiance and then realize with disgust what she's done. Now she usually gets angry with me when I try it, and the other day she went as far as to shake her head no instead, to thwart me and my evil games.

SherE1: No way, she's not the boss of him, and my wife's not the boss of me. Never, never, never!!

Wifey: Oh, of course-- we have a very complex terrain around here.

Natalie: Is the hotel pool indoors? That could be nice. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that there's no water shortage out there in Turkey.

We could probably stand to have some strict water limits here now and then, both so people can really appreciate what we have and so they can be prepared them for the inevitable water wars in coming years. I'm sure those readers down in Georgia can attest to that likelihood.