Oh so 'random'!

Toddlers exploring the powers of their new found vocabulary often provide us with quite entertaining expressions. Tweeners...not so much! If they should happen to actually engage you fully in conversation, you often get the same tired old word used over and over. Lately, the word I hear the most is RANDOM. Everything is "So random!" It's better than the 'whatever' I used to be getting but only just. This week that word finally induced quite the chuckle from Julia and I! Picture the scene; driving home from the city at dusk, in January, in Chicagoland with Mari exercising her new found privilege of sitting in the front seat of the van (over 12 and over 80lbs now!!). As I pulled onto the exit ramp that would take us into our suburb, Mari asks ever so matter of fact, "Mom, why are there random kids standing on the side of the road?" The mother in me kicks into overdrive as I scan the edges of the exit ramp for children in potential danger...in a matter of seconds I'm imagining abandonment, stupid teen pranks, or even a snowball ambush (happens here in winter world USA!). In as few seconds I 'find' Mari's "random kids"............ a stand of small pine trees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The very second it dawns on Julia, the teasing begins and Mari responds with, "Well that was one thought I should have kept inside my head!" I tried so very hard NOT TO LAUGH but it was too much to pass up. In one of my less than empathetic moments I just had to respond.... "Guess those glasses that were prescribed for you in Kindergarten would come in handy about now...hmmmm?" Most of my readers would probably be unaware of the fact that Mari wears glasses. That would be due to the fact that she keeps them safely in her case until she gets to school where they then go on her face only until the last bell rings...at which time they are off and back in their case in a nanosecond! I know this because all of her teachers were notified of her propensity to 'forget' her glasses and have united with me in 'encouraging' her to wear them....since she can't see diddly after about 6ft from her nose! She used to wear them readily up until the whole tweener peer pressure thing reared it's lovely head. Now, well let's just say the only time she has them on in a picture is when she is so absorbed in an activity in which they are needed that she forgets to whip them off and hide them out of picture range. Like when we did our Easter eggs last year....which was how far back I had to go to find a picture in which you can clearly see the glasses on her face!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now every time we pass any kind of tree Julia says, "Hey Mari, look another random kid standing in the snow!" and every time I have to smother my smile and pretend I didn't hear the tormenting. A couple of more instances like this and maybe her need to see will overcome peer pressure? Then again, maybe we should have done contacts instead of a phone for her birthday? One last bit of family humor; Tonight was 'family night Thursday' and as usual the cousins were over for homework, church school, and dinner. It was not my husband's favorite dinner. Shake and bake chicken breasts with biscuits and string beans. Now mind you he is not one to waste food EVER and dutifully cleaned his plate but I did hear one mumble about the amount of vegetables on his plate. He is definitely not a fan of green beans or wax beans and tonight's offering was a mix of BOTH! Mari had herself worked into knots over the fact that she has to give a presentation tomorrow at school and barely touched her dinner. When Julia (feeling slighted that she had to clean her plate while Mari was allowed to abandon hers) threw out, "What's with Mari and the beans?" causing Alyssa (only paying partial attention and a HUGE Twilight fan) to respond, "What about vampire beans??" Patrick swung around and exclaimed, "What kind of country is this that they sell VAMPIRE BEANS and why would you BUY such a thing for us to eat?!?!?" I told him that they were good for your digestion as they sucked the blood from your stomach wall which meant he wouldn't be able to absorb all the excess calories from the 4 butter laden biscuits he had eaten!!! ...and well this would be my Julia for you! Just had to play along and sneak up next to Patrick and give him this smile. He wasn't amused. Guess I'll have to hold off on the green beans for a couple of months (: