Scenes from Last Night: Tornado Sirens and Vocabulary
I was standing in the kitchen last night staring at various food stuffs trying to think about what to make for dinner to no avail. Leo was on the computer in the kitchen and Owen stood in the doorway. They had some back and forth that I ignored until I heard Owen mumble something about his breath. "DID YOU JUST CALL YOUR BROTHER A JERK?" I yelled. He mumbled "no" but there were suspicious signs that he was fighting a smile. I demanded that he apologize and Leo muttered something in response. Then Owen let out another mumble and Ernie and I both whirled around to stare at him. "DID YOU JUST CALL YOUR BROTHER A PRICK?" Leo yelled, "HE DID, HE DID" and Owen immediately went into defense mode, crying "NO I DIDN'T...WHY DO YOU ALWAYS YELL AT ME?" and quickly and tearfully retreated. Ernie and I just wanted to giggle which I suppose isn't the appropriate response. Even Leo seemed to be fighting a smile. I headed into the other room to talk to Owen about his choice of vocabulary but first stopped at the laptop to look up a recipe. I saw Rod Picott had friended me on facebook WOO-HOOOO so I was all happy but by the time I got into the media room Ernie came rushing in to say the tornado sirens were going off.
The boys raced toward the basement with Owen in the lead. Lord our basement is a disaster....outgrown toys, things that have been ruined in basement floods, things we took from my sister's house or my parent's house that we have no room for. Ugh. We tried to listen to the radio over Owen's outbursts.... "I'M SORRY IF I'M CRYING BUT I'M ONLY NINE YEARS OLD AND I DON'T WANT TO DIE....OR LOSE ALL MY LEGO." Ernie's helpful response? "Lego can be replaced." This of course started both boys off on a torrent of outrage until Ernie shushed everybody.
We eventually went back upstairs and went from window to window staring at the sky and the flooded street. A few minutes later....more sirens..eventually we made two more trips to the basement until it sounded as though the worst of it was moving past us. I had now made three interrupted attempts at dinner...we decided to throw the chicken I'd cooked on some bread and call it a sandwich. Ernie and Owen and I curled up in the media room to watch American Idol. Owen, however was giddy with relief and couldn't stop talking. I don't know if I've ever seen him so wound up. As he helpfully explained to me though, "I'm just so happy we didn't DIE Mom." This giddiness led him to total outrage whenever he thought the music was particularly bad. "THIS IS RIDICULOUS" he would scream, pointing at the screen.
During a commerical I tried to talk to him again about his vocabulary. He said, "I didn't say prick Mom, I said preck." I just stared at him so he went on, "and anyway I don't really know what it means...I thought it was like the stem of the cherry." I explained the word to him and he exploded into hysterical laughter stopping only to sputter, "you mean I called Leo a PENIS" before laughing uncontrollably again....and again....and again....
Sometimes you gotta know when to just let things go so I just changed the subject. Geesh.