organized chaos

originally posted march 24, 2006

I’ve never claimed to know what goes on inside my 6 yr old daughter’s head.  In fact, I suspect her mind works much like mine, to the nth degree, so it would indeed be a potentially scary journey in there.  Good scary, not creepy scary.

Case in point: Today is our co-op field trip to the skating rink here in town.  We’ve all been looking forward to it. All of us.  While I’m doing the dishes, I say to the gremlins, “Go look at the numbers on your shoes, so you’ll know what size skates you’ll need.

Socrates actually goes and does something the first time he’s asked.

I say, “Ok everybody, remember your numbers.” Because I am a loser that cannot remember her own gremlin’s shoe sizes.

Socrates says, “We have to go buy skates?”

I say, “No, we rent them.  You know, just for today.”

Jackelope says, jumping up and down,”Yay! We get to buy skates.  Mine will have four wheels.” *shows me four fingers for emphasis* “Mom. Mom. Mom.”

I look down at him finally.

“Four wheels, Mom. Four.”

I say, “Ok. I get you.  They will have four wheels.”

A stray thought runs through my head and I haphazardly voice it.

“You know, the skates aren’t that pretty.  They’re all the same.  Probably brown or something.”

Commando Demando says, “What??!!”

I stop doing dishes and look at her. “Yeah.  It’s not like you’re going to keep them.  They’re all the same.”

Commando Demando mumbles, “But I wanted blue or something.”

I say, for the third time, “Well, sorry.  They’re all the same.”

Jackelope starts showing me his best skating moves on the kitchen floor, without skates, of course.

Commando Demando says, “Is Jackelope going to skate? He doesn’t even know how.”

I say, “Neither do you or Socrates.  You’ll have to be careful.  The floor in there can be dangerous.”

Commando Demando says, “What do you mean ‘a floor’?”

I say, “The floor where we all skate.  It’s a big hard floor.”

Commando Demando says,  getting madder by the second, “We’re not skating on a big sidewalk?”

I say, “No way! It’s a big hard floor where everyone skates around in a circle with cool lights and music going.”

She yells, “THAT’S THE STUPIDEST THING I’VE EVER HEARD.”

I have a hilarious mental picture of all the co-op kids and their moms skating up and down a gi-normus sidewalk to funky seventies music.

I say, “Well, I guess you can just sit and watch the rest of us skate.”

Then she storms out of the house.

Make me wonder what she expects other things to be like.