Tuesday, October 24, 2006

DON'T QUIT YOUR DAY JOBS!!!

On the way home from school yesterday, the kids decided they wanted to tell jokes. Well, yes, isn't that cute and all that, but what you don't realize is that their idea of a joke is from a Baby Einstein video in which a stuffed carrot appears, and then a second stuffed carrot appears, and then a stuffed parrot appears -- and the whole joke is..."carrot, not parrot!!!"

[Yes. Really. Try to contain yourself.]

This "joke" has been on the top of their list since they started talking. They think it's freakin' hilarious. So, this is how they tell jokes...

"Okay, Mama, are you ready?" he asks.

"Go ahead, boy," I say, bracing myself.

"Dog, not frog!!" and he breaks out into hysterical laughter.

"Cat, not bat! Mouse, not house! Sky, not fly!" and he goes on and on, both of them squealing with delight at each new rhyme, and it's a 45-minute commute home, let's not forget.

And the whole time, in between her own peals of laughter, she's trying to get in there, trying to be heard, trying to do her own set, you know? But her mind works differently than his does, and she comprehends differently than he does, and she interprets things and digests things and regurgitates things very differently than he does. So what, in her mind, was exactly the same kind of joke, actually came out...

"Okay, Mama, my turn, my turn! Are you ready?"

"Go, babygirl," and I glance up at the rearview mirror.

"Pelican.." she says, pausing to build the anticipation, "...not wildebeast!!!"

[Aye, Saita. Thank God she can cook.]

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