Since the age of two-and-a-half our 3rd child, Evie (currently age 4), has made the same request for cereal every weekday:
“Oatmeal Squares with milk and a spoon.”
She says this as though any self-respecting parent could forget the primary constituents of a bowl of cereal, but she says them every day, without fail.
On the few days in which I ask her what kind of cereal she would like she slumps her shoulders, rolls her eyes, dramatically sighs and repeats her morning mantra:
“Oatmeal Squares with milk and a spoon.”
But recently she has taken to upping the ante.
Being even more precise.
Subjecting us to specificity above and beyond.
Her newest request:
“Oatmeal Squares with milk and a spoon in a bowl.”
As an adult of reasonable intelligence, I struggle to imagine the kind of caregiver who would forget to provide a child with a bowl as the primary conveyance of cereal & milk when a spoon is already involved (as requested), but I digress.
What’s even more amazing (or appropriate, depending on your perspective) is how her younger sister, currently two-and-a-half herself, has co-opted this funny phrase.
And while the choice of cereal may be different – Imogen prefers Life to Evie’s Oatmeal Squares – the phrase is no less funny coming from her mouth. In fact it might even be funnier considering her diminutive stature and wispy voice.
I can make all the jokes I want, and it does make me laugh (most times to their dismay), but I’m going to miss this request once it’s gone. It’s a near-constant reminder that neither of them will be little forever.
I want to bottle up those words and save them with me.
I need very badly to record them saying it so I don’t forget it (or them) exactly as they are right now.
I’m writing it down here as a means of preserving the impermanent.
I think the best part about this little ritual is that now I hear the big kids playfully asking for their own cereal this way. I’ve even found myself saying it to Jenn and likewise her to me.
“Oatmeal squares with milk and a spoon in a bowl.”
It’s funny how that little, funny phrase has so much power.