Saturday, June 03, 2006

Saturday Non Sequiturs

I think Opie may have said his first word (beyond "mamamaMA! MA!" and "dada"). He looked pointedly at a bottle of bubble solution and said "Bubb." I'm not sure what the diacritical mark is for "vowel sound so vague and faint as to be nearly imperceptible, yet present enough to separate two consonants." That's what the "u" was. Still, it sounded like an intentional word to me.

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Am I the only one who always thinks everyone around me is the exact same age I am? Whenever I find out that a friend or acquaintance is more than a few years older or younger than I, I am always stunned. How egocentric is that? To believe that everyone in my orbit was born within the same brief timespan? It must stem from all those years of high school and college and even my first job, during which time everyone I hung out with was my age-mate. More than a dozen years later, though, I still feel the same way. Especially, of course, with you young'uns. Because then I start thinking "I'm 2/5/10(!!) years older than she is and I haven't..."

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We adopted a caterpillar yesterday, a small, thin, green, inchwormy thing. It dropped onto the stroller's sunshade as we walked to the playground, and when I pointed it out to Jo she immediately wanted to keep it as a pet. We put it in a bucket with a stick, a pinecone, and a bunch of grass. Jo named it "Sweetheart," then quickly decided "Strawberry Shortcake" would be even better. But Strawberry's time with us was, well, short. She was not at all interested in our bucket abode and inched her way out in no time flat. Jo searched high, low, and in vain for a replacement. No other inchy green things wanted to take her up on the bucket condo offer.

3 comments:

Bea said...

And then there's the reverse shock: my neighbours have three children, ages 5, 6, and 12, whereas my children are both under 3. I was so shocked to realize that we're all the same age! And it's not just the children - they do such grown-up things, like gardening and home repairs. I still haven't gotten used to the fact that I'm no longer a student but rather an Adult with Responsibilities.

Anonymous said...

I definitely agree that Opie meant to say "bubble". The look, the sounds, the appeal of bubble solution - they all point to the same conclusion.

Yep, I'm that egocentric too. And I'm so egocentric that I worry about whether people will still be interested in me once they find out how young/old I am. Can't win.

Sounds like Jo has shed her city girl roots. I'm not sure I could get Tacy to adopt a caterpillar. Were you able to say the caterpillar's name with a straight face?

Anonymous said...

The mom that I've fairly recently become friends with is actually about 8 years younger than me. When I first found out she was younger, I was so shocked because our kids are the same age (like that matters... LOL!) I was worried that she might think I was too old and unhip -- but I needn't have worried. Now the age difference doesn't seem too significant because we get along so well.