The Entertaining House

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Out of the mouths of babes...

A couple of weeks ago I took the kids to a nice Japanese restaurant. They love to watch the chefs cook and do their magic on the hibachi. We sat back and enjoyed the show. I let the kids indulge in these special Japanese sodas (that taste like Sprite) that come in small glass bottles with marbles at the top. You need to pop the marble to be able to get the beverage. These fascinating treats cost me $4 a pop! (I told the children these were special treats and not to expect them every time we eat there. Nevermind my $8 glass of wine that I will not give up!) The children were very well behaved and ate well. It was a picture perfect night and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them which had been scarce due to my crazy hours at work over the Christmas week. But, nothing is ever uneventful at The Entertaining House. There's always someone or something amiss!

At the Japanese restaurant it happened to be Alexander. He stuck his middle finger up and started waving it all around. He had no idea he was doing anything wrong until Rebecca quietly told him not to do that. And then she burst into fits of giggles... followed by Christopher and yes, me. You see, when you tell Alexander not to do something it is pretty much guaranteed that he will do exactly what you want him not to. It is also very hard to discipline your child when tears from hysterical laughter are streaming down your cheeks. Pretty soon everyone caught on to him and everyone started giggling along... thank goodness!

In the car on the way home we simply said to Alexander that he should never raise that finger in public. Rebecca explained that it meant something really bad and really inappropriate. He seemed to get it and the topic was dropped.

Until today.

I had the perfect day planned.

I was going to hit the gym briefly while Rebecca would watch the boys. I would then come home and we would all go to Alexander's Occupational Therapy session together. From there we would head out to lunch, then to paint some pottery, then the grocery store, home to put the groceries away and then back out to go sledding....

On the way to lunch from OT Alexander shouted out of the back seat.

"Momma!"
"Yes, Alexander."
"I know what the middle finger means!"
"What does it mean, Alexander?"
"It means FUCK!"

Had I been drinking a glass of wine, I surely would have spit it out to California!