As you all know, I have two young kids that are basically blog fodder gold for me. Oh, yeah, and I love them dearly, etc. etc. That’s important to me, too. But back to my blog again. Now that my son is almost ten, he’s decided to limit our conversations to one word. I’ll ask him a question and he’ll either ignore me completely, or he’ll say, “Huh?” while looking off into the distance. So it’s getting harder for me to give you, dear blog readers, those fascinating gems that used to fly out of his mouth. But he still manages to crack me up with a few choice words.
He’s been writing to his pen pal from another country in school for months now. They both love Super Mario Brothers, Hot Wheels and pizza. I am as shocked as you are. The other day, the teacher set up a live video chat with everyone’s pen pals so they could finally meet in person. I was desperately trying to get information out of my son about the experience.
“Did you see your pen pal?”
“Huh?”
“Did you see him?”
“Yeah.”
“How was it?”
“Okay.”
“Did you talk with him?”
“Yeah.”
“Wasn’t it cool to see your friend from another country?”
“I guess.”
“What country is he from again?”
(shrugs) “Wisconsin?”
And the conversation ended. Along with my hopes of him ever becoming a geography teacher.
My son doesn’t come up to me as much anymore to strike up a conversation because he’s probably afraid I’ll sneak in one of my quick hugs and kisses and he’ll be forced to make a hasty retreat. So it was shocking when he came up to me and my husband on purpose to sit down and talk with us while we were watching TV.
“Mom, Dad, I want to tell you something.”
(mutes TV) “Yes! What is it?”
“Well, I’ve been thinking and….”
“Yes?”
“Don’t get mad but….I kinda wanna….”
“It’s okay. You can tell us! You can tell us anything at all! At any time!”
(leaning forward, on the edge of our seats)
“Well…Mom, Dad. I’ve decided to change my name.”
“Oh?”
“To Mario.”
Silence.
“Just thought I’d tell you guys to call me Mario from now on, ok?”
And he ran away.
I’m hoping by the time he’s in college, Mario will want to talk with me again.
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You might have heard about this craze called ‘photobombing’. Where someone sneaks into the corner or background of someone else’s picture and makes a face or something equally clever and obnoxious. Here is a video of my daughter, trying to sing the ABC’s “Country Style” (her preK teacher taught her this version which I find hilarious) My daughter had tried to do this video more than a few times and, as you can see by the end of the video, she had a hard time.
And here she is attempting a rousing rendition of Lady Gaga’s Born This Way.
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Fellow blogger extraordinaire k8edid is running a series of writing contests titled The Deadly Sins. This week it’s all about gluttony. You should have a character die or be in the process of dying and it should be no more than 600 words. She promises lots of prizes (this week it’s her world famous chocolate chip cookies and a $20 donation will be made, in their name, to the Food Bank or other hunger-fighting charitable organization of their choosing!) and besides, it’s fun to write, so go on over there and enter. Death, sins, charity and cookies. What more could you want, really?
She's A Maineiac 
Your kids are adorable. Plus, it is comforting to know that I am not the only one struggling to communicate with her child. 😉
It’s like pulling teeth to get him to talk to me lately. I think he’d actually prefer I pull his teeth than make him talk to me.
Mario will find his words again, don’t worry. He’s hilarious even monosyllabically.
And he isn’t even trying to be funny. Love that boy.
Your kids are so cute! I will check out the contest….
Definitely go check it out, Susie and play along, you are a great writer, you’d have fun (like you don’t have enough writing to do, right?)
Thank you so much Darla! I think you are a great writer too which is why I followed you! 🙂
Your daughter is great – country ABCs are such a fab idea! Photoboming, eh? Looks like Mario is a natural – is there much of a job market for that skill?
I love how she sings W, as dubya.
I wish he could put ‘videobombing’ down on his resume but his first job will probaby be at McDonald’s or a paper route so I’m not too worried…yet.
The worst is yet to come. Wait till he is a teen and you are trying to pry out information about the girl he is taking to the homecoming dance.
Oh, I can see me doing that one day! The horror. I’m hoping once he’s thirty years old he’ll want to talk again.
Not only are you a fantastic writer, but a supportive one on top. Love it. =)
Why, thank you, Stacie–it’s a typical Monday today so your comment cheered me right up.
Every Sunday in his Sunday School class… EVERY Sunday … Charlie fills out his name tag with a different Mario character as his name. Wait. I sit corrected. This Sunday his name was “Black Ninja”. (We do not even own a Wii, DS or ANYTHING with a Mario game, Darla!!) *sigh*
Where does he get it from? Black Ninja, haha! Christian is all about Mario games. He lives and breathes them. He’s a very active guy and does so well in school, we let him have his Mario-time to a point. But it is a bit of an obsession now.
When I was a kid I wanted to change my name to JimJackJoeJohnSteve.
I liked all of them and couldn’t pick.
Well, JimJackJoeJohnSteve has a nice ring to it…I wanted to be another D name (my mom named all six of us ‘Da…” names…I was so close to being a Daisy) So I only answered to Denise in sixth grade.
Loved the post, D-Woww! You crack me up. The kids are funny – remind me of ours when they were little. Hmm, boy communication … think man communication, only smaller!! hehehe Did I really say that out loud on my keyboard?? Yep, think I did.
After seeing your daughter’s video, your plaid video popped up.
OH MY GOSH!! You are the best! Is it bad to say that I LOVED all the plaid. Am I just too RAD-PLAID?? Never!!
So great to be back. Great for putting a smile on one’s face. 😉
I think you’re right–his one word answers are probably normal boy/man development. I can’t wait for his teen years when all he does is roll his eyes at me.
You haven’t seen my plaid video yet? Oh dear god. You have missed so much while moving lately.
Ahaha, your daughter is such a ham!! If there’s anything I’ve learned from having an older brother myself, it’s to leave it to them to wreck everything. And yes, that still applies when they’re in their 30s… 😉
I hear you. My brothers were so cruel and so mean to me. It’s good though–helped me to build up a thick skin so now nothing can offend or bother me. I survived my brothers!
Darla, I couldn’t get the sound to play on my computer — but I enjoyed the videos anyway! Especially your poor little girl’s face at the end of the second one, when she’s so sad her brother video-bombed her. 😦 She can get her revenge, when he’s going to the prom, she can pop her head in the back of all his photos. Or better yet, make one of those little placard signs that says “Mario” with an arrow pointing at him. I’m sure when he’s in high school he’ll love that.
Aw, that’s too bad you can’t hear it, Julia has the sweetest little voice. I should’ve added that immediately after she hung her head all sad and pouting, she got up and chased him all over the house and I do believe he’s a little scared of her, she’s almost as tall as he is now.
I only got a tiny bit of sound at the end, but mostly missed the Lady Gaga homage. Didn’t miss the video bomber, though. Add a Hoodie and move him out back to the shed,and your boy is destined to greatness.
Hi,
Loved the videos, just too cute, and your son did an excellent job of ‘videobombing’ in both. 😀
He’s so good at that, swooping in at the right moment to tick his sister off. A true brother.
Good God, this is priceless! Please thank old Mario for me. And the video–gosh, what a cutie! Great, great post.
Hugs,
Kathy
She is something, dancing and singing are her thing. And Mario’s is videobombing, I am so proud of both.
wait until he’s 14 and all you get are prehistoric grunts…forming actual words doesn’t return until he gets his driver’s permit…
If you don’t read the comic strip Zits, give yourself a head start and begin reading immediately. it’s all true.
I am still in denial that in five short years he will be able to get his driver’s permit. Just thinking about this has produced a few new gray hairs.
Sorry, Darla, but I’m not sure it changes with boy-offspring until they need a babysitter for their own children. Hopefully it will be a while for both of us.
But they are adorable. Your daughter looks like you only without the plaid.
That’s what I’m guessing, he’ll talk to me plenty once he calls me up in the middle of the night because his baby won’t stop crying.
Mario….could have been worse-Luigi? My son wanted us to call him by his middle name. It lasted about 3 days, if that is a consolation. Pretty creative choice of names, though. We have video of our kids when they were young (way, way, long ago!). My son-of the middle name name-jumped up and down in front of the camera as we filmed the family….long before photobombing, there were little brothers.
Little brothers are the best when it comes to photobombing. I had one younger brother who was in the corner of every single picture of mine, sticking his tongue out. He was so sneaky we wouldn’t even know he was there until much later when it was developed.
I don’t care if the foreign country is Wisconsin, the fact that he has a pen pal is impressive. I didn’t know kids still did the ‘pen pal’ thing. I loved mine and have tried to locate them, but being girls – women now – they seem to have disappeared behind surnames that I do not know.
And I didn’t even know what a ‘pen’ was until my son told me.
They not only communicate with actual letters, using pens, they write in cursive! How cool is that? Oh, those were the days….
I don’t feel bad about exploiting my kids for the benefit of my blog because of how much more attention I pay them now that I’m hanging on their every word, hoping they’ll say something funny.
Exactly, so it’s a win-win situation. This is why I always keep a little notepad or napkin my pocket so I can jot these blog gems down.
oh my goodness, that is hilarious!! Mario. Oh the things I have to look forward to in raising boys. Glad to be reading your blog again 🙂
And just where have you been? 😀 Good to see you around these parts again.
Boys are great, aren’t they? What’s really great is when they grow up and have their own daughter and son and realize how mean they were to their own sisters….
hahah! Yes, hppefully I will be around a little more regularly. I’ve been busy…trying to prevent my kids from damaging library books!!!
big brother photo bomb? WAY too funny. You made me snort my coffee all over my robe – ha!
Enjoy the quiet that is Mario right now; it lasts until they need the car 🙂 MJ
That’s what I hear. So either I can listen to my son whine nonstop about not having a car or give him the keys to mine? Great choices! Can’t wait for that day.
Oh my God. Hilarious, Darla! Your kids are way too cute. And Mario not speaking (or speaking in caveman) might be even funnier than when he was speaking in English.
I was obsessed with Mario when I was his age. You know, Luigi really gets the shaft. I think I might just change my name to Luigi in protest.
All right, since we’re being honest, I also used to love Mario. I would play Super Mario until my brains leaked out my ears, not even stopping for food, drink or toilet. And I was 20 at the time, so really I can see where my son gets his obsession.
“I would play Super Mario until my brains leaked out of my ears, not even stopping for food, drink or toilet.”
Yeah, that sounds familiar.
Oh really? You too? get out! Sometimes I’d close my eyes at night and I’d still be playing, jumping on those little mushrooms and zipping down underground tubes…I can still hear the music now…Explains a lot about me doesn’t it? I think I lost more than a few thousand brain cells in those days.
Yeah, I wrote a post on it a long time ago — I got so bored playing it and it got so easy that I would lay upside down and play just to make it challenging again.
Yes! I think I remember that post of yours! I have been following your blog for so long now I must have read that Mario post months ago (I’d like to take this moment to point out I was following you long before everyone else, ahem, so when you get famous remember that, okay?)
Hey, that goes double for me on the “I knew you when” thing. Although, I did find you via Freshly Pressed so maybe that’s not true.
Ha! So are you playing along with the Mario name change?? I never asked to be called a different name, but I did once tell my dad I was going to start calling him by his first name. He didn’t care, which totally took the fun out of it (smart guy, my dad).
Mario is quite the video bomber!! 😉
The Mario thing lasted all of one day. Not even an entire day. I did have a talk with him about his name. I asked him if it would be okay if we called him Chris or CJ instead and he said, No way, just call me Christian. So Mario is a distant memory now.
I started my blog because of the brother (s)-sister relationship thing while traveling through Thailand (I needed to talk). The only difference is my kids are in their twenties (I’m hoping they stop “wrecking” the family videos by age 30)
You mean I have to wait until they’re in their 30s?! Oh my god. I’ll be dead by then!
Thanks for the shout out about the writing contest – your entry was posted today, along with a couple of other entertaining entries. Such talent!!!
Your kids are so cute. So darned cute.
Yay! I just read the other entries–I loved them, they were way too good. I hope you have a team of judges ready because it will be hard.
Yes, I am not looking forward to that part at all…
Very cute! I dread the day when I have kids and they do this to me, but the name change could have been worse.
Good point, it could have been so much worse. My guess is he’ll go with Luigi or Yoshi next. Thanks for visiting, I loved reading through your blog.
Same to you, it was quite fun interacting with everyone yesterday.
I know, Susie is the best, isn’t she? I have to go back again today to check out the other blogs! There are just too many out there, my head’s spinning trying to keep up with everyone in the blogosphere…
Photobombing! New word. *check* I’ve got at a least a cajillion of those. Now I know what to call them.
I’m partial to the “photobombing” my son did to my daughter (he was 6, she was 3) performing for the camera — he was intentionally wearing her bride dress-up costume to make her REALLY mad. (To be fair, I DID warn him not to do that.) Oh yeah, it’s on film. That’s gonna come out at some point in his teenage future. I can practically taste the payback.
Now that is definitely worth some serious blackmail in the future. I giggled at your son wearing the bride dress because my younger brother used to put on my Easter hats/bonnets and photobomb my pictures (back in the old timey days when we actually had to wear hats and go to church)
Haven’t we all wanted to change our names at some point? I wanted to be named “Candy” when I was younger… nevermind that I would have basically been setting myself up to be a cheap stripper, no offense to any actual Candies out there. It’s better than my little sister, though– she wanted to be named “Maxi” when she was young. Haha! 🙂 Mario is at least a decent fake name.
Candy! Hahaha! Ooh la la! Rrrraaarrrr! (that was me trilling my tongue in case you couldn’t tell….)
Oh, Maxi–that is really too much! hahaha!
All of my brothers and I were DA names (David, Dale, Darrin, etc.) so my mom was faced with calling me either Darla, Daisy or Darcy. She didn’t go with Dana because I had an older brother named Danny and she thought she’d confuse the two of us I suppose when she was yelling out our names in anger.
I hope your son gets a chance to venture to the far away land of Wisconsin one day to meet his friend.
Would you believe me if I said I didn’t read this post until after I made the Mario and Luigi comment on your Italy post? So weird.
I totally believe it! Stranger things have happened in the blogging world…I didn’t even connect that my son wants to go by Mario and I want to go to Italy. It’s all coming together now, I can feel it.
Oh goodness the faraway land was WIsconsin? Really?
I wonder how long he’ll go by Mario. I look forward to hearing what other names he choses.
It only lasted a short time, Rosie. He moved on to Luigi for a few hours yesterday and now it’s back to his original name Christian. Which I prefer considering I named him that.
This is just too cute. I don’t think my mother ever owned a camera. I have three older brothers, maybe this explains why.
Same here, I have four older and one younger so I’ve plenty of pictures with my brothers in the corner making faces.