Conversation in the car
(Being a not-quite-verbatim transcript of a conversation between recently-turned-five daughter and self)
She: Do you remember yesterday when I turned 5? [Note: past times for this person are either “now”: past 24 hours, “yesterday”: sometime in the recent past, and “last week”: sometime in the far past. The latter is also sometimes referenced as “when I was 3”.]
Me: Yes. That was a couple of weeks ago.
She: When will I turn 6?
Me: In just about a year when you have your next birthday. About the time you get out of kindergarten at big school.
She: Oh. When will you have your next birthday?
Me: Next week. Tuesday.
She: And will you still be older than dirt then?
Me: I’ll tell you and you can tell your mother that I’m not that old. I’ll still be the same age as dirt, thank you.
She: (laughs) You always say that.
(“All Things Considered” plays on PBS radio for approximately 1 minute.)
She: I got an idea!
Me: And that is?
She: How about I can have your birthday next week so I can be 6 and you can have my birthday next month so you won’t get old so fast? [Note: future times for this person are either “next week”: near future or “next month”: far future.]
Me: I like that. How about I just let you have all my birthdays from here on until we’re the same age?
She: That’s silly! You’ll always be older. Besides, you wouldn’t get any presents that way.
Me: OK. Then I want to keep my birthday and you just have to wait until next year to turn 6.
She: Oh, all right. Do you want a cake for your birthday? Wait. Do we have that many candles?
Me: Sure and yes, we do.
She: Good. Can we stop at the Shell and get me Funyuns?
Me: We’ll see.
She: Do you remember yesterday when I turned 5? [Note: past times for this person are either “now”: past 24 hours, “yesterday”: sometime in the recent past, and “last week”: sometime in the far past. The latter is also sometimes referenced as “when I was 3”.]
Me: Yes. That was a couple of weeks ago.
She: When will I turn 6?
Me: In just about a year when you have your next birthday. About the time you get out of kindergarten at big school.
She: Oh. When will you have your next birthday?
Me: Next week. Tuesday.
She: And will you still be older than dirt then?
Me: I’ll tell you and you can tell your mother that I’m not that old. I’ll still be the same age as dirt, thank you.
She: (laughs) You always say that.
(“All Things Considered” plays on PBS radio for approximately 1 minute.)
She: I got an idea!
Me: And that is?
She: How about I can have your birthday next week so I can be 6 and you can have my birthday next month so you won’t get old so fast? [Note: future times for this person are either “next week”: near future or “next month”: far future.]
Me: I like that. How about I just let you have all my birthdays from here on until we’re the same age?
She: That’s silly! You’ll always be older. Besides, you wouldn’t get any presents that way.
Me: OK. Then I want to keep my birthday and you just have to wait until next year to turn 6.
She: Oh, all right. Do you want a cake for your birthday? Wait. Do we have that many candles?
Me: Sure and yes, we do.
She: Good. Can we stop at the Shell and get me Funyuns?
Me: We’ll see.
On 6/16/2006 4:13 PM,
DeniseUMLaw said…
Cute way of telling us all that tomorrow's your birthday, but -- I already knew. :) Heck, I even wrote a blog post wishing you a happy birthday two days ago (scheduled for posting at one minute past midnight). So there.
On 6/16/2006 4:17 PM,
Jami said…
My birthday really isn't until next Tuesday, and that was not my intent in posting this. Although I'll take it ...
On 6/16/2006 4:26 PM,
DeniseUMLaw said…
Duh. I know that -- that's when it's scheduled to post, too. :)
On 6/16/2006 4:36 PM,
Jami said…
I knew you knew that.
On 6/19/2006 4:23 PM,
SoulPony said…
How bout you keep your birthday and give me your daughter. That wasn't meant to sound psycho, she just sounds too precious. The perfect age to be the most adorable. I wish my children were still that small. I miss the younger versions as well as love the current ones.
On 6/20/2006 12:28 PM,
Jami said…
Yes, she is definitely precious. And precocious, too. And almost always into something - sometimes in a good way, sometimes not. Her grandmother says that by the time she's 30, she'll either be running the whole state of Texas ... or be in prison for life.
On 6/20/2006 3:28 PM,
DeniseUMLaw said…
There's a difference?
On 6/21/2006 11:36 AM,
Jami said…
Of course there's a difference! The ones running the state haven't been caught yet.
On 6/26/2006 12:02 PM,
Jami said…
You want cuteness? Check this out: every now and then she wants to "camp out" at night. So she gets an old exercise mat, her pillow, one of her baby blankets and a book or two and drags all of that into our bedroom where she makes a little camp bed on the floor. She then proceeds to go to sleep there, surrounded by the three dogs that also sleep in our bedroom, while we lay in bed and read.
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