Más Chatter

Kindergarten boy while making a self portrait: Girls have longer eyelashes because they are more sensitive-y

J to V: You are really busting my nerds.

M on a large piece of rolled up paper: From Anonymous to A.F. (8th grade boy): I LOVE YOU.

J, disgusted at the littering on the street: When I grow up  I am not going to be a scientist, I am going to be a garbage man!

J: I have a feeling that at some point in my life I will go to jail.

M to me: Why are you so interested in us behaving well?

J massaging a chicken at the supermarket: Can I admire him since he was killed for us to eat?

J when I beat him in a race in which I was pushing a stroller: You won because you have six legs and four are wheels.

J: Can I officially grow up to have no job?

J: Can we get a pet?
Me: No.
J: A pet bee?

J: Can you get me sparkling white pants and a shirt? Shiny.

V when I bumped into him by BT: Mamá, go cook!

A, thrashing outside our neighbor's home (they were out): Mom! Mom! I want to see mom! (Not me)

Good Times

for real. Had a great last two weeks or so. Auction is over. Was not as lucrative as I hoped but it was fine. Work with filmmaker and subsequent writing and correspondence has been exciting. More on that later. Watching Central Park Five and it is outrageous- never give in to pressure when you are on a jury- you may ruin MANY lives. Depressing shit- hope to blog on that later. MoJo and AleVit lines coming tomorrow too I hope. BT Spanish was phenomenal last week. My group of 2 two and three year olds played animal charades; it was incredible! I am off to sleep before the new week begins. Notte!

More Backlog of Lines

J to F: You guys love me less because I am different than you.
F: Why?
J: Because I believe in G-d and you do not. I am Jewish and you are not.
____
J: Do not tell people the funny things I say. I want it to be personal.
___
J: Can we move to Singapore? I am sick of all of the gum on the sidewalk. It is disgusitng.
___
M: Would you have married papi if he looked like how he does now?
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J: Can you make me spinach and carrots and milk every day so I can have strong bones and eyes?
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J: Girls have three privates and boys have two. Actually girls have four, six if you count the niblets.
___
Me: We are going to ask the restaurant for a gift certificate for the auction.
J: They will give it you if they think you are pretty.
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J: Were you born in the 1880's?
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M to J : You should put less pressure on mamá and appreciate her more. Lots of kids do not even get to leave the country like we do.
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J: I would kill myself to save you.
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J: Can you punish me so I cannot watch tv? While M watches tv, I want to learn to read. So please punish me so I can learn to read.

I Am

Sitting in my living room after a day at school followed by music school, picking M up with J, coming home for dinner etc and jetting out to tutor. Fresh direct is coming between 10-11:30pm. Opted to not watch crap TV and eat but rather sit down (avec du vin) to transcribe my interview with Shannon. I feel invigorated. What an honor to have met such a cool woman, filmmaker. Now I need to get my rusty intellectual and writing wheels going to bang out a decent piece to post and hopefully promote her film. If you see it playing ANYWHERE, make sure to see Towheads (2013). I will be sharing my interview and review of the film on skipriporplay.com soon! Here's to using my brain for film this evening!

Backlog of Lines...

J: For Halloween, can we dress up at Family Times?

J: Tomorrow night I am going to escape

J, during an episode of Family Times where the mother is in labor: Why don't they show her pa-china?

J: So many things happen in life.

J, rubbing my back: Wax on, wax off.

J: When I am a grown up I am going to be like MLK and defend animals.

V, as I stood on the window sill yelling at M for breaking the blinds: Do you need help?

V, looking down at his worn down "new" hand me down boots: My shoes are cool. My shoes are dirty.

V & A every 15 minutes, toddler 1: I don't like it!
toddler 2 (they alternate roles) : I don't like it either!
Note that is A is saying this overused line, she pauses in between each word, jutting her chin out for emphasis.

M: Are you the tooth fairy and Santa and all of those characters? Do not tell me because I do not want you to spoil it for me but please tell me when I am older.

J: I am too busy. I do not want to go swimming any more. I need the whole weekend to relax.

J: This family is having a real rough time today.

Me to J: You cannot say "fucking asshole to your sister."
J: I did not. My action figure called another action figure "fuck ass"
( I feel better now).

V Oh V

V is a maniac at bed time. He is like a one man show. He knows I will close the door if he does not at least try to go to sleep. As he jumped in the pack and play making it move all over the room at bedtime, he chanted "Close the door. Hurry up! Close the door." When he subsequently got out of his crib again, I asked M to tell him to go back in or I would be angry. He came running into my room with a big grin and said "I am happy." The last time I went into his room (I passed the task along to tío D as I was leaving to tutor), I found him on the top bunk. The glitter in his eye and the smirk on his face as he waits for my reaction in these situations is priceless. He said laughing as I hoisted him down: You are leaving? I am leaving!

As I got A to wear her first nightgown, V asked me to put a (tiny- it was in a pile to give away) Asian dress on him. I asked him if he was sure (he is a very cute girl too). As soon as he was in it he twirled! He looked like a sausage in it but it seemed like the thing to do.

Images to Remember

In the midst of being a NYSAIS prisoner in school, tutoring like a maniac and the MTA sucking on the same day as there was some fucking parade that paralyzed the city, here are some images/stories I want to remember:

Last night I turned around as I was watching dishes, MoJo was on the couch finishing a movie, it was past bed time. What do I see? V, in his Superman pajamas (his belly is so large and his blonde hair so long that he looks hilarious in it!) just standing in the middle of the living room. He got out of the crib, came down the stairs, and thought he would watch some Grease with the big kids.

Yesterday at nap, I left the room (mistake- need to stand guard from the get go) and came back to V on the top bunk. He was waiting for me to yell, but I did not (I am practicing self control) and he did a little shake and said "Yeah!" to me. He fell asleep right away while A, drove me crazy for an hour until I canceled her nap.

J woke up with his tooth, which has been loose for a while now, in a horizontal position. So gross! He did not really brush his teeth or eat but refused to try to take it out. A friend of his told me "his tooth is wiggling hard." I tried to bribe him, no dice. His teacher convinced him (also with a bribe) and when she went to put her hand in his mouth, he jerked away and the tooth fell out. Glad I missed that one!

I realized that I lost many funny lines that I thought I posted yesterday. Not posted. Or saved. Sad. Will try to reconstruct, but very frustrating! Good night. One day of NYSAIS and two of F in Brazil- done!!

Coming to a Head!

Everything that could be at a "I need your attention now" point is there. My school is having their 10 year accreditation visit starting Sunday (so I need to prepare lesson plans, make my room look impeccable, dress better etc), F is leaving for Brazil on Saturday. I need to churn out the auction catalog NOW- it is in a little over two weeks. I have the chance to interview a filmmaker whose film I loved (first time I have asked someone for an interview of this sort) and she said yes! (but when?) and the chance of buying a three bedroom may be real. Oh yes, that would involve me cleaning out our current home and painting it to show it to sell it first. Do you see what I mean? WTF? I need to make it through the next two weeks and then I can make it through anything I guess. Did I mention that A and V no longer follow a bedtime routine? They get out (V instigates) or V screams and demands that I, or someone stay there. It is a horrible regression and puts a big crimp in my tutoring style, which assumes that I can leave the quartet with ONE sitter so that I can tutor at a normal hour. If that person needs to wrestle the duo, it is unlikely that the other two can go to bed normally.... a disaster. F put the side back on A's crib, which covered in black duct tape, just makes the room even more orphanage like than it was before. Hey, at least I paid my taxes- that was on my to do list for weeks! Off to make dinner and to tutor. May the force be with me.