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| "snowy volcano cake" (otherwise known as [near] flourless chocolate cake) made by my beloved and the younger lass. I'm a lucky girl. |
While I attempted to interview the two-year-old younger lass, it became obvious very quickly that doing so would be an exercise in futility. Maybe next year.
1. What is something Mama often says to you?
7 year old elder lad: I love you.
5 year old younger lad: I love you.
3.5 year old elder lass: I love you.
2 year old younger lass: I sew.
2. What makes Mama happy?
elder lad: I love you.
younger lad: when [we're] not fighting
elder lass: when I smile
3. What makes Mama sad?
elder lad: I hate you. [I'm guessing he means the verbalization of these fighting words.]
younger lad: when [we're all] fighting
elder lass: when I scream
4. What does Mama do that makes you laugh?
elder lad: tickle me
younger lad: tickle me
elder lass: tell funny stories
5. What was Mama like as a little girl?
elder lad: I don't know
younger lad: I don't know
elder lass: I don't know
6. How old is Mama?
elder lad: 34
younger lad: 34
elder lass: ummm.... 33
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| cookie cake made by my dear dad, as has long been tradition, with six happy little music notes for the six of us in my little family and one grand piano with precisely-placed chocolate sprinkle keys. I'm such a lucky girl. |
7. How tall is Mama?
elder lad: let's say about five feet tall
younger lad: eight feet high... [but] that would be taller than Dad! Dad's six feet high. Maybe... aha! You're five feet high! You're a little bit shorter than Dad [demonstrates with his hand].
elder lass: We'll have to measure you again!
8. What is Mama's favorite thing to do?
elder lad: sew
younger lad: sew
elder lass: sew
9. What does Mama do when you're not around?
elder lad: clean house
younger lad: love me still
elder lass: sew
10. If Mama were famous, what would it be for?
elder lad: her love
younger lad: loving us
elder lass: I don't know.
11.What is Mama good at?
elder lad: cooking
younger lad: sewing
elder lass: sewing
12. What is Mama *not* good at?
elder lad: crawling on the floor like a horse
younger lad: dancing?
elder lass: she's not good at..... [looks sideways at me] I don't know.
13. What is Mama's job?
elder lad: to watch [my sisters]... and me and [my brother]... to teach us things... to watch us so that we get along............taking care of us
younger lad: to take care of us
elder lass: to sew
14. What is Mama's favorite food?
elder lad: potato soup
younger lad: salad! [points upward victoriously]
elder lass: salad!
15. What makes you proud of Mama?
elder lad: [thinking long and hard on this one] I don't know. (then later) I said I don't know what makes me proud because you do all kinds of stuff that makes me proud but I just couldn't say it. I don't know. ["so you're proud of me, but you're not sure why?"] yeah.
younger lad: that she snuggles me
elder lass: 'cause she snuggles me
16. What is something we do together?
elder lad: bake
younger lad: sew
elder lass: sew
17. How are you and I the same?
elder lad: We both have dark hair.
younger lad: We both are humans.
elder lass: We both have black hair. [Actually, we both have brown hair.]
18. How are you and I different?
elder lad: You're a girl and I'm a boy.
younger lad: You have long hair and I have short hair.
elder lass: We don't have the same color skin. [This elicits my quizzical face, as we are both fair-skinned.]
19. Where is Mama's favorite place to go?
elder lad: Missouri
younger lad: [a local pizza franchise based in the town where I went to college, answering again with the victorious hand gesture]
elder lass: [a locally-owned purveyor of "crispy bite-size chicken"]
20. How do you know that Mama loves you?
elder lad: 'cause she says so
younger lad: because she tells me that. Am I done now?
elder lass: because she tells me that. Am I done now? [yes, they both answered exactly the same in separate interviews}
I'll save the analysis and my response for another time. For now I'll just say that I think I may have hit upon the way to conduct these interviews successfully -- that would be by parking them in the glider we've had since the elder lad was a newborn. That way they can rock and fidget and gesture and wiggle around, thus allowing the answers to come freely and resulting in a quick and relatively painless interview that serves as a gift of sorts to Mama and fodder for much navel gazing.
