Apparently I am that mom...

The other day in the car we were playing a game of silly names. We like to make up silly sounding nonsense words that sound a lot like the real name, but are totally ridiculous.

This incarnation was mostly centered around Star Wars Princesses & Queens.
Some offerings for Princess Amidala were...
Princess Wack-i-doodle
Princess I'm a doggie

Howls of laughter from the back seat.

Then I came up with "Princess Pizza Face" !?!! Where did that come from? It was greeted with laughter from the back, but some horror from the front. They just thought I was being funny, but in fact I was introducing them to those names... names which I hated as a kid.

So I was thinking back and wondering how that girl who joined the year book for the EXPRESS PURPOSE OF BEING IN THE BOOK (and has one lousy picture to show for all the work. Here it is. I see it hasn't improved with age. Still looking sullen, still peeling an orange, still below hot Kelly Fellers, sigh, oh, and Greg Frost is some hot shot at the Associated Press or something...) turns into that mom who is teaching her kids what Pizza Face means?

I love my kids and I think they have an even chance of not being permanently at the loser kids table, but mostly because being a geek is now cool. But I don't want them to be the ones armed with the mean words and the pithy taunts to other children who happen to have acne, braces, and glasses. (I can pretty much guarantee all of the above for J and P).

Recently Ryan and I have been wondering how Kindergarten is a microcosm of the future. There are already cool kids, fashion conscience kids, geeks who love Lego and Star Wars, and even a bit of a bully. They are tamer in all respects and there seems to be less exclusion at this point, but it's all there. We encourage J when he comes home and tells us he's now hanging out with someone new. But we also ask about what happened to the old friend we used to hear so much about?

So, I will watch what taunts I teach them. But it's too late for birthdays... be prepared to be told that you look like a monkey and you smell like one too. That was me. Sorry.

Star Wars Birthday Success!

J turns 6 tomorrow (hard to believe) and we had his birthday party on Sunday. It was a weird Austin-in-winter day where it looked like rain but only sprinkled a few times, while being over 70 degrees so we had to have the AC on in the house...

We got a moonwalk with a slide in it as the main form of entertainment. Happily the house has a great side yard that accomodated the giant blow up structure nicely. Only one piece of drama: the installer came right as we were finishing cleaning up the yard and set it up. It had two blowers so we ran one extention cord into the living room (front of the house) and the second to the back porch. Ryan was out watching J and P jump before everyone arrived. We had agreed to have some "quiet time" before everyone got there, so they were coming in. Ryan comes into the house and I see the house deflating...

"Oh, you unplugged it until everyone gets here?"

"What do you mean?"

Yells from the back yard "Mom, Dad, Help!"

We had blown the circuit breaker with the kids in it!
They were rescued, we moved one extention cord and we were fine for the rest of the day.

One nice moment in the whole party prep process... J actually pitched in. He began the process with a very self-involved attitude about how he didn't have to help, but we had a chat about how it's a lot of work to get ready to have a great time, and then he was on board. He gathered all the laundry baskets and helped sweep the floors, all without a word of complaint (miracle!).

The other big hit was the cake. It was a bit of effort on my part, but it was all worth it when J walked around the whole party telling everyone what a wonderful job I had done and how he thought it was "the best cake Mom has ever made". It's nice to see him grow into more adult emotions.

As we like to say "May the Fork be with you... use the Fork!"

Star Wars knowledge from waaaaay back

In a galaxy far far away, I watched Star Wars (all 6 episodes in the theater!). I watched it for entertainment value only. While there are a few quotable moments: "Damn, it impacted on the surface"; my favorite is "Luke, I am your Father", "Noooooo! Thatsimpossible!" in my best Nathan Poe imitating Mark Hamil. Makes me laugh everytime... back to my point.

I never thought I would have to be so familiar with the plot points of all the Star Wars movies later in my life. I do not remember what happened in most of the movies let alone if Boba Fett is Jango Fett's son or why Boba Fett needs to get Han Solo or the miriad of other mysteries that come up in the mind of a 3 and 5 year old who have just experienced this phenomenon for the first time.

P and I were walking into daycare the other morning and we were having an elaborate discussion about how Darth Vader had killed Anakin Skywalker, and how Anakin Skywalker AND Darth Vader were Luke Skywalker's father, etc. etc. The esoteric differenced between Vader and Anakin are surprisingly not that difficult for him to grasp. This conversation didn't strike me as that odd (since we have had so many lately) until I passed a father in hall and he started laughing quietly at our conversation.

So, you thought you were immune from the plot points of Goonies? or the Neverending Story? Barbie Island Princess? Well, study up. It's coming. You'll have to know to keep up.