Wednesday, April 6

Ishes Are for Babies

While I love that Doodles vocabulary is expanding at a rapid pace, I'm a little sad that he no longer says "ishes" but now says "fish." This was proven this past weekend when I took him to the Mystic Aquarium. Once a year, my former college roommate, Jax, and I meet up at Foxwoods for a day. But if you know Jax, then you know that once a year is not enough of a fix. Jax is a hoot, and I wish she lived closer so we could pal around more often (although she's a terrible influence on me, so Adam should be just as happy she's four hours away). So we decided to meet halfway in between us at the aquarium with our kids. Jax has two adorable girls, four and six, whom I had never met. That's the thing with meeting at casinos. It's generally frowned upon to bring your children. Frankly, I can't think of a better way to teach a kid to add than to set him at the blackjack table, but then, that's just the kind of mom I am.

The aquarium certainly lived up to its reputation, and I would recommend it to anyone who lives in the New England area. Trying to have a no-holds-barred conversation with a buddy with three kids in tow, however, I would not recommend. We'd whisper little things to each other over the tops of the kids heads as Jax answered thirty million questions from her kids ("Hmm, I don't know why the sting ray has such a long tail"; "That's a great question. I wonder how that 800-pound sea lion moves around so quickly") and I chased Doodles as he ran from tank to tank, excitedly pointing and shouting, "Fish! Fish!" He'd get to one fish and suddenly realize there were even more fish right next to him, and each fish was a wonderful, exciting new discovery.

Seeing Jax with kids was definitely odd. I mean, I knew she had them. I'd seen pictures, heard stories. But to actually see my out-of-control college roommate acting as a responsible, loving mother was kind of mind blowing. It made me feel, well, old. I mean, if Jax grew up, then there's no hope for the rest of us. Maturity is inevitable. Luckily, we'll always have our trips to Foxwoods to insure that there's still some of the kid left in us. Nothing a martini and a stack of chips won't cure.

2 Comments:

Blogger Daniella said...

well, what does it say about the world that I'm married and about to buy a house? You know you're a grown-up... you've spawned (almost twice now!), but me? That's just not right, is it?

9:46 PM  
Blogger Jenny said...

You never know you're a grown-up. It just kind of happens and other people point and stare and whisper things loudly like, "Look! It's an adult!" even though you know that you're still sixteen years old inside.

9:52 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home