Tuesday Tunes
After a morning of doing basically nothing and a little housecleaning, the kids and I got ready to go to the mall. We would normally go to the playground, as I’ve mentioned before, but it gets really hot in South Florida around the summer time – duh. So we hung out at the play area where some of the girls there were enamored with Taylor. Their moms kept telling them, “Go play with the other girls,” (my boys are mistaken for girls because of their long hair). One little girl had snot running down into her lip. I kept pulling her away from Taylor and telling her to go to her mom to get her face and hands cleaned. I looked up to get her mom’s attention, but Mom was busy talking and ignoring her daughter. I wanted to pick the girl and take her to her mom, but you can’t do that in this town because people will mistake that for either a kidnapping attempt or, worse, your telling them how to rear their own child. The saddest part was when the mom wanted to leave, told the little girl to get her shoes on, but the girl didn’t listen. So, well, that would frustrate any parent, I understand. Then the mom grabbed the girl’s shoes, tried to get the girl to walk with her, but the girl wanted to sit. So the mom ended up carrying the girl by ONE arm. Unless my kids are in danger of being run over by a car and I have a kid in my other arm, I never carry kids by one arm. That’s just rude. And the poor girl also let out a cry. I thought the mom would stop, but she continued dragging the child a few more steps, until I interfered with my Army voice, “Excuse me!”
“Eh?” She had such an innocent look on her face.
“You’re not allowed to do that in this country.”
“Eh?”
“I see you doing that again, I’ll be forced to notify the authorities.”
Thank heavens for body language and tone of voice. For some who didn’t understand English, she sure got the message loud and clear.
We sat down at the food court for a raisin and Cheerios snack. I didn’t pack the kids’ bowls, so I went to the Subway and asked for a couple of their disposable bowls. The lady was about to give them to me, but her manager started mumbling something…
Mumble mumble mumble mumble. They looked up at me. I’m like, “Yea?”
“Rocoto moroto panales tutanes,” said the manager lady to me.
“And in English, that means…?”
“We hab to pay you por de plates de soup.”
I laughed out loud. I mean, I didn’t mean to, but it was just so funny! “You mean, you have to charge me for the bowls of soup… yes?”
She nodded.
“You’re never going to prosper without learning English.”
The boys napped in the car, and we got to my piano lesson just a little bit late – I thought they could use a few more napping minutes. They were introduced to Mrs. Milian and her three kids, a girl and two younger boys. Kyle sucked his thumb and was shy the first half-hour, but he slowly got acquainted and decided that it’s more fun to play than to sulk. Ty was having trouble with the Lincoln Logs, with which he had never played before. The nanny came in with take-out, whole, organic grains and vegetables. yum! All the kids ate and made a mess, a grainy mess of rice all over the floor, but the family was in the process of moving, so there was no furniture to have to move around or rugs to vaccuum to get the rice picked up.
Mrs. Milian’s two older kids got their piano lessons in, which was pretty amazing due to all the noise that was going on, but the kids paid good attention. Ty and Kyle hung out with the youngest boy, who will turn five in November. Ty turns four in November, so they hit it off well. The oldest, a girl, played with Taylor. It was over-all a fun time. We got home a little later than expected, but that was because the kids (and adults) were having such a blast.
The boys had dinner and dessert, brushed their teeth, and cleaned up their room for bedtime. Ty read half of his book, then started acting tired. Kyle played with his new sloth that his new friends gave him, and Ty couldn’t go to sleep without his dolphin that was also given to him by his new friends. Taylor nursed to sleep, and the boys didn’t stop stepping out of their room (“I’m thirsty. I need to pee.”) until well past 10. I read an American history textbook. Dad watched TV. Ty woke up in a cry, saying that he was cold, at 11pm. I was falling asleep, and his cry woke me up. After that, I fell asleep. Totally zonked.
At 3am, Kyle woke up crying. He likes to walk into the living room and finish sleeping on the couch. So I let him. At 6am, Taylor woke up to eat. And I stayed awake…
And at 7am, the whole thing started all over again.
At least we take breaks from 10-noon, then it’s non-stop until 10am again.
