Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Orange You Just Like Daddy

First of all let me just say that after a 13 hour work day yesterday I came home just in time to see the girls before bed.  As they sat on the couch getting "jammied" I lay down on the bed next to a freshly changed Rosaline.  I talked to her for a moment and she gave me a series of wonderfully dimpled little smiles. ... nothing is more pressure relieving then that.  What rough work day?  I don't know what you're talking about.  I'm recharged and ready to go!

Ok, now to the post.  After the girls had gone down and I had polished of a well deserved beer (baby smiles go along way, but a cold Corona is the icing on the cake) I went to the kitchen where Gina was kindly putting together a plate for me to eat.  Now I have certain quirks. ... yeah. ... quirks is a good word.  I can't pass a refrigerator with out opening it and looking inside. ...even if I'm not remotely hungry. ... I have to go to the bathroom like 6 times before I can go to sleep at night. ... I tend to crack my neck when I get stressed. ... and if there's a bowl of fruit in front of me. ... I juggle it.  I don't know where it came from.  I taught myself to juggle when I was a kid and for some reason it evolved from tennis balls to citrus.  I do it with out even thinking about it.  Bowl of oranges?  1, 2, 3.  Now it's a great party trick, don't get me wrong.  Standing around at in a house party and start juggling - people go crazy.  Ok, maybe not crazy, but they're intrigued.  It's even better with kids because it's borderline magic to them.  And my girls are no different.  The watch me and think it's fascinating.  Well, being California, there's never a shortage of oranges - and someone we know must have dropped off a crate or two because the kitchen has been full of them for weeks (lemons also. ... lemons aren't being consumed quite as rapidly though).  So last night I start juggling while talking to Gina and she quickly informs me "You know, your daughters are copying you."  She doesn't say it like it's a good thing.  She says it like "You know, you're single handily responsible for a series of messes that I have to clean up. ... and I'm not thrilled about it."  Turns out, my two year olds are trying to learn to juggle as well. ... and they've also taken a shining to fruit.  So far Arianna is content to hold one orange in each hand and wave her arms up and down saying "wow, wow, wow."  Occasionally they come loose and fly around.  Genevieve on the other hand. ... well she has taken to just picking up one orange and launching it overhand across the room. ... I'm not sure she grasps the concept of juggling just yet.  I also think, just like me, she may have confused oranges with tennis balls.  Either way, when Gina confronts her she just looks at her perplexed, like, what did I do?  I was just juggling, mom.  You go into parenthood knowing that kids are going to mimic you.  So you watch your swears, you pick up after yourself, you practice good hygiene. ... but it doesn't matter.  They'll find something that you do that you shouldn't be doing and they'll make you pay for it. 
Knock, knock.
"Who's there?"
"Banana"

1 comment:

  1. aha! i was wondering why genevieve kept trying to chuck the oranges across the kitchen this morning :D

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