Today the little lady's neice came here to wrap a present for her friend. She was sent in to me for help with the bows, which come from a huge clear bag about the size of a minivan.
"Which color do you want?"
"Um...purple."
"Purple?! Purple's way at the bottom! Pick another color!"
I was kidding, of course, and had in fact already started fishing for the purple bow. The joshing would surely have been obvious to anyone older than 10, but she's far younger than that, so over her head it went.
"Green!"
I triumphantly pulled hand from bag to reveal the coveted purple bow, which apparently was no longer quite so coveted: to be sure, it met with a vaguely confused expression and a disappointed yet surprised "oh!"
"Do you still want it? How about two bows?"
So the gift was adorned with a purple bow and a green bow. She smiled and made a noise something like a cross between a hencluck and the word "done!" and returned to the other room, festooned package held high.
After that there was, among the adults, considerable frustration over the precise spelling of "Caitlin," which involved repeatedly yelling the letters "C-A-I-T-L-I-N" from one room to the other and then the quieter expression of doubt over my spelling choice...which may well be wrong given the recent propensity of parents to bestow on their children common names, ridiculously-spelled. Through it all, the child, who never knew nor cared how to spell "Caitlin" remained silent, but I could hear the thoughts in her head:
"What the hell is the matter with you people?! Why don't I just fucking hand it to her?"
Ah, kids in small doses...my style. Happy holidays.
Posted by Chris at December 14, 2003 01:11 PM | TrackBackHow old is she?
Five or six, I think. I'm not good with kids' ages. Somewhere between six months and eight years.
Posted by: Chris at December 15, 2003 12:05 PM