I Never Want to Grow Old

Reading about your culinary mess-ups made me feel a lot better about my own kitchen disasters, so thank you so much for your comments on yesterday's post. I'm glad to know ours is not the only household lacking a Martha Stewartesque matriarch.
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Over the holidays, we traveled to New Orleans to visit Ryan's dad and stepmom. And, as always, we had to make the rounds of visiting all of the various relatives who live in the area. We went to lunch with two of Ryan's elderly great-aunts (Aunt E and Aunt J) and an even more elderly great-uncle (Uncle T). Since Ryan and I had to sit next to the boys to help them through the meal, poor Sydney was stuck sitting between Aunt E and Uncle T.

She was attempting to fill in the Mad Lib game on the children's menu when she got stumped with the word prompt beneath one of the blanks.

Sydney: Aunt E, what does this word say?

Aunt E: Let me see there, Sweetheart. Hmmm....I can't read that. J! Let me borrow your glasses.

Aunt J: What, E? I can't hear you!

Aunt E: Your glasses. I need to borrow them to help Sydney with her puzzle. (Glasses are passed down the table.) OK....hmmmm....I still can't read it.

Sydney: Mommy, what does e-m-o- (I can't hear anything) spell?

Me: Sorry, Sweetheart, I can't hear you over the boys.

Sydney: Nevermind.

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At the end of the meal, we were thanking the elderly relatives for the meal when poor Sydney, who'd just been beaten in a game of tic-tac-toe by a semi-confused Uncle T, tried her hardest to be thankful, too.

Sydney: Uncle T, thank you for lunch.

No response.

Sydney: (Louder) Uncle T, thank you for lunch.

Uncle T: What, Sweetheart?

Sydney: THANK YOU FOR LUNCH.

Uncle T: For what?

Sydney: LUNCH!!! THE MEAL WE JUST ATE - LUNCH!!!

Ryan: Sydney!

Sydney: Sorry.


Poor thing. We didn't scold her for what she said to Uncle T, because frankly, she handled it all better than most kids twice her age would have. I just hope our trip to the aquarium the next day made up for the fact that she had to spend an entire lunch either bored or exasperated. Honestly, it was one time I was thankful to have to sit next to a toddler and help him with his meal.