Brainwashed

As all of you know, we love Mizzou. And, as any dedicated and tried and true Missouri fan would, we are working very hard to instill a love for Mizzou in our children at an early age. Along with the love for our team comes a little, ahem, disdain (if you will?) for other certain teams... namely, Kansas and Arkansas. (We may no longer be in your conference, Kansas, but we still despise you.) This is (mostly) all for fun, of course, but I realize now that perhaps our children might be taking it a little too literally.

Case in point:

Last week I took Lola and Regan to dance class. Dance class is in Mountain Home, Ark., where Razorback fans run rampant. We were in the dressing room before class, and a little girl walked through and went into the bathroom. Lola leaned over to me and giggled and whispered, "Did you see her shirt?" I didn't see it, and I didn't really pay attention to what Lola had said because I was hurrying to get the girls dressed for class. She kept talking about the shirt, and I kept ignoring, but then the little girl came out, and Lola leaned over to me again and said, "See! See her shirt. Look at it!" And she was giggling. The poor kid heard Lola and turned and looked at us. Our eyes all fell on her shirt and the Razorback that glittered across the front. Lola was simply mimicking what she hears us say when we see Razorback paraphernalia: "Ew, it's a Razorback!" but I could tell that the little girl knew Lola wasn't exactly complimenting her on her shirt, but rather... making fun of it? Ughhhhh.

I tried to gloss over the situation by quickly saying, "Yes, I see it. It's a Razorback. Now come on, let's get to class!" When the girl walked out I tried to explain to Lola that she shouldn't talk about and giggle and point to someone because it might make the kid/person feel awkward. Lola was utterly confused. And quite frankly, so was I. Sigh. #parentingfail #gotigers

Arghhhh, me mateys!

Note: I started this post about three weeks ago before we left for vacation (vacation post to come soon, maybe, I hope). National "Talk Like a Pirate Day" was on Saturday, Sept. 19. We missed it by a day, but on that Sunday the kids and I went on an impromptu pirate treasure hunt that was inspired by a "map" drawn by Lola that morning.

A confession: I don't "play" with the kids very often. Sad, huh. I spend time with them... getting them ready (for school, for bed), bathing them, cooking for them, cleaning up after them, reading to them. Not often enough do I forget all that other stuff and just sit down and play! (Sigh.) So, when Lola showed me her map, on a whim, I suggested we use it to go find some treasures. She instantly lit up.

A funny note: When she was pointing out places on the map, she said: "This is Africa, this is Aja (Asia), and this is New York - it's a pretend town."

We marked X's on the map of where and what we had to find, including a sword (stick), gun powder (flowers/weeds), cannonballs (pine cones) and gold coins (rocks). And we were off. It was a beautiful day, and we had fun. I'm trying to play more and work/clean/cook less. Hey hubby, can we hire a maid?