Confusing Acronyms

A couple of weeks ago, Chloe's sweet little friend came back from her vacation with a gift for Chloe. She handed her the gift bag and they both excitedly sat down on the stairwell to open it. Chloe pulls out this adorable little pin with the letters B-F-F on it. She looks at me and says, "What does it say Mommy?"

Since I'm so experienced in worldly matters, I quickly come to her rescue and announce for all to hear, "Sweetie, B-F-F stands for 'best female friend'. " Chloe's look of confusion vanished and I continued on with, "Wasn't that so sweet of your friend to think of you?"

Meanwhile, friend's Mom and Chuck are rolling on the ground in laughter. I couldn't imagine what would be so funny. Then Chuck kindly tries to correct my ignorance by saying, "Uh, Baby, I think it means 'best friends forever'." And I'm like, "Seriously?" And he's like, "ya". Oops. This whole time anytime I heard that acronym, I thought that's how people were deciphering between best female best male friend. What do I know?

Chloe, ever ready to believe her mother decides, "I like best female friend better, Mommy". Of course she does. She wants to save her mother from embarrassment. I had already gone thru all the shades of red there were.

The moral of the story, actually there are two: 1. don't open your mouth (Cori) unless you really know what you're talking about and 2. acronyms are really confusing. I'm so glad I never joined the military where it seems every other word out of their mouths are an acronym. I would be in a perpetual state of confusion. Naïveté was always my strong point growing up.

This also reveals another side of me: I'm not up with the whole texting thing. If I were, I would have a handle of some of these teeny-bopper phrases. LOL!

Hangman

Playing hangman with a 5 year old who has a very shaky (at best) grasp of the english language in regards to spelling is not an activity I would recommend for the faint of heart (or the impatient). This same 5 year old hates to lose. Insists I draw hair and pants on the 'hangman' before he actually goes down so as to give her more time to guess. She also tends to want to quit before the game is officially over so she can't say she lost. She has a firm grasp of phonetic spelling and often adds way to many lines when it's my turn to guess. She also has selective hearing and 'claims' she didn't hear me when I said a letter she later writes on her spaces. This is an exercise in futility, kinda like playing 'I Spy' in a moving car.

Looking Cool

I now know what it means to be 'cool' in the eyes of my boys. Today I chose to wear yoga like pants and a sport shirt, you know, those new fangled kinds of shirts made out of that tight, stretchy material that makes it look like you just went to work out but didn't. I was waiting for the boys outside of school where I always wait. Bennett almost walked right past me. Once he recognized me he exclaimed, "Mom! You look cool...and pretty...but mostly cool. And you're wearing a blue shirt! Cool!" This was accompanied with lots of rubbing of my shirt and staring starry eyed up to me. My self esteem just received a major boost. Then Gavin comes sauntering along. Amazingly enough, he too notices my 'different' attire (I'm more a skirt and t-shirt type person). His comment: "This shirt makes you look like you just exercised. Does it make you want to run?" Excellent. If I can make my own son think I was exercising, then any random passer by might be fooled as well. Because that is the whole reason behind the outfit...only make them think you like to exercise...but don't. Looking cool feels good, I tell you! Plus...it would take a whole lot more than a cool shirt to make me want to run.

Secret Mission

Notice the white square amidst the waning yellow leaves in the tip-top of the tree. The note has been impaled onto a branch for safe keeping. Yes. It is there on purpose. The AT&T Secret Service club put it there. Here's how the saga begins: It's a windy, arctic day (for Texas that translates into at least 40 degrees). The boys are in 'Section 1' of their little hide-out (whatever that means, Gavin just told me that's where they were), when low and behold, they spot an ED (evil-doer) implanting something into our mailbox. I'm glad they are keeping an eye on the neighborhood. Agents 2, 7 and 9 stealthily sneak over to the mailbox, retrieve the aforementioned item shoved in there and bring it back to the safety of the nuclear power plant they lovingly refer to as their 'fort'. Thank goodness each agent is an adept reader. They translate the message and decide what action to take.

Agent 7 (Gavin) runs inside with the speed and agility of a turtle and asks his mom for a hole punch. Agent 7's mother is a little confused by such a request, but is also thankful for the extra security around the perimeter of the house, so she acquiesces and hands the hole punch over to the agent. All three agents then proceed to climb up into Station 2 (I'm assuming that's the tree since that's where they all were). With a beautifully fashioned hole now in the white document retrieved from the mailbox, the agents decide which branch they should place the notice on for 'safe keeping'. It is fall. All the leaves are falling off the tree. It is windy. I'm not sure any of these thoughts crossed through the agents' minds. They were simply thinking of a quick and safe place for the note that contained their next (actually, first) secret mission.

Later on that same night, Agent 7 confides in me what all the panic was that was transpiring outside prior to sunset. As the story goes...it wasn't an ED afterall, it was just a boy out putting fliers in mailboxes advertising his lost cat. The boys couldn't help but jump on the chance to make this their first official secret mission. Evidently, this created alot of excitement in the group. There wasn't time before dinner and dark to begin their investigation but they sure had time to come up with a plan...and that they did. The first order of business was to keep the mission note in a safe place so they could find it again. (Just between us...it wasn't in the tree when I checked this morning. I sure hope they memorized it).

Gavin confided that really wanted to use a voice altering machine (like we have one lying around the house for such occasions) and call the number on the piece of paper and inform them that a couple of secret agents would indeed find their beloved pet. I gently explained that we might not want to mislead or offer false hope to people who are especially sad right now. He seemed to contemplate that and accept it as truth.

And then...that was all. The mission is in the 'cold case' file right now. Nothing has been done to advance its progress as I have been witness to. The secret agents are currently using their precious daylight time on the Wii for their allotted 30 minutes they have left for the week. Any new or further developments will be posted as it seems I have become the official spokesperson of the AT&T Secret Service club.

Thank Yous

I have always thought I'm the luckiest mommy in the whole world...but now I have proof. My sweet children keep writing me thank you notes and whispering sweet thanks yous in my ear just for me doing what I love to do. Everyday I put a little note in the boys' lunch boxes...so Gavin writes a note to thank me for the note. Everyday I get the joy of spending time with Chloe teaching her...so Chloe makes a precious little card thanking me for being her teacher. Bennett prefers to tell me and show me how he feels...so at night, right before bedtime while we're cuddling, he rubs my hands and feet and tells me how much he loves and appreciates me. Where oh where do I get these amazingly thankful kids from??? It blows me away. Our thankful snowball just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Every morning Gavin thanks me for making his lunch. Bennett thanks me for cleaning the house so nicely. Chloe thanks me for having a tea party with her. I love to do those things...but to have my children come up and thank me out of the love of their hearts out of their own free will melts my heart each and every time and reminds me how thankful I am to be their Mommy!

Whether or not this continues into the teenage years does not concern me. I know their hearts and they know mine...that's enough to take us through the peaks and valleys of hormones (mine and theirs). I will be treasuring each and every handmade note the rest of my life!

Cooter and Ma

Should adults have this much fun dressing up?