August 12, 2009

We Deserve Each Other

Recently Julius and I were at the doctor's office with my mom, this time a specialist in the big city. We rode up the elevator much to Julius's delight, all the way to the 8th floor. In our little town there is only one building that has an elevator and that's the hospital -- only two floors. Not a thrill ride by any means.

He decided while we were in the waiting room that he really wanted to take the stairs going down. After some serious negotiating and a handshake we decided we would take the stairs and the "last man standing" would win. He was certain he would win and by the looks of it, with her eyeballing my formerly-girlish-now-gone-beachball figure, my mom was pretty certain he would, too. Frankly, this made me fed up with both of them.

When we finished with my mom's appointment, she left down the elevator and Julius and I headed for the stairs. We stepped into the coffin-like stairwell and the door slammed shut behind us. I jumped and glanced behind me to see a small sign:

Doors will lock behind you.
Exit only on 1st floor.

The only problem is that you can only see the sign when the door is closed.

Now fully committed we proceeded down the stairs. Between floors 8 and 7 we paused to look down the middle of the stairwell, a tiny little gap, presumably for safety. I wallered up a big wad of spit and sent it down eight flights, a perfect straight drop all the way to the bottom.

Julius said, "Wow... how'd you DO that?"

For a moment, I basked in the adulation of my son. All it takes is a little bit of spit and I can impress a 6-year-old boy. I figured I should enjoy it now since I've got so little time of this left before we ease into the adolescent disdain and embarrassment.

He tried to muster some spit and send it on down the chute and it spattered on the steps of the floor below us. "Ar," he stated with disgust. "I can't do it and I'm out of spit now!"

I shrugged and said, "See you at the bottom!"

And thus the race began. Behind me he yelled, "Let me in front of you!"

I cackled and yelled, "No way, Jose!" On floor 5 I rounded the corner to see the most humongous cockroach I've ever seen in my life. Fortunately, dead and upside down. I yelled up, "COCKROACH!" and kept on skipping down the stairs.

Behind me Julius rounded the corner and stopped to look at it. Suckerrrrrr! I gained half a floor more before I heard him yell, "Maaahhhhhmmmm! Wait for me!" I paused slightly out of motherly guilt and then remembered how smug they were about my abilities to go DOWN eight flights of stairs. DOWN, for heaven's sake.

"Nice try!" I yelled as I continued down to floor 4. Behind me I heard him admonish himself, "Argh, I stopped too long to look at that bug!" I snickered quietly, pausing to make sure I could still hear him behind me.

Another dead bug on four and one more on 3. I relayed the information up the stairs and heard him yell, "Mom, now I'm getting scared!"

I yelled back, "The only thing you should be scared of is me winning!" I skipped down through two, rounding down to the ground floor to see my mom standing at the door holding it open. She asked where Julius was. I told her he was about 2 flights behind me.

Finally there he was with a sheepish grin. We walked out to the parking lot, him splashing in the puddles with his brand new shoes. "Mom spit down the stairs," he told his grandmother. I looked around innocently, certain she would admonish me.

She glanced over. "You did?"

I nodded. "I think I impressed him."

She rolled her eyes and said, "I'm sure you did."

"Well, I am the mother of two boys you know," I reminded her.

"I know and you're starting to be just like them, spitting and burping. Just like all THREE of them."

I smiled happily and stomped a puddle next to her, splashing her, laughing, "We deserve each other."

She scooted farther away from me and yelled back at me, "You certainly do!"

24 comments:

  1. lmao!! oh thanks for the giggle this morning! :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good job! I couldn't have spit like that!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Too cute! thanks for the morning chuckle!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello, just wanted to say how much fun I've had reading your posts. You have a lovely blog and I found out things I knew nothing about until now ! Thank you for sharing your pictures and thoughts.

    Best wishes

    ReplyDelete
  5. Cute story, and I'm sure you're son will remember that for a long time.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love it!!
    Your posts are a great read and always manage to amuse me :) Keem them coming.

    Vicki

    PS - I meant to comment the other day on the fact I nearly wet myself reading the Casper story!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Spitting is apparently a skill that needs to be honed and perfected to a science. I'm still working on it . . . LOL! :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. How fun & cute! Doing thing like that with your kids makes for great relationships, as well as keeping you young! Loved that you splashed at your mother as if you were 6 again! Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for the laugh. I know my three boys have rubbed off on me.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Too funny

    I can hear the mothers of girls going oh my she actually left him after he said he was scared? To which this mom replies. Good for you!!!! Show no mercy boys will eat you alive.

    I remember how cool it was to make spit squirt through the small slit in my front tooth. I must have gotten it from my brother. I have to show that to my son. LoL

    ReplyDelete
  11. You are a perfect little boy mother!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I am impressed with your distance spitting ability. But I can slurp mine back in. i.e. when I straddle my youngest son and make big spit-conjuring facial expressions and then let a little out but suck it back in as he is twisting and screaming under me. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. That's awesome. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Good story! Way to go on the spit-diversion-tactic. Made me laugh!

    ReplyDelete
  15. See, if I had done that with my nephew, the post would be about how the spit landed on a doctor's head and I was getting sued or how I stepped on the roach, slipped on it's guts, and fell all the way to floor one.

    Your version is much better and a lot less painful.

    ReplyDelete
  16. And those are the memories that will stick with your son! :) The day Mom raced him down the stairs full of bugs after spitting down it first. You rock!

    ReplyDelete
  17. that was a great post and a well-told slice of life of a mom and her son. Aren't boys insanely fun? You sound like one helluva mama, too.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'm most impressed with the spit. I had no idea you could do such things until I saw my husband teaching my boys how to spit off a ferry to the lower levels. Now, whenever I get the chance...

    ReplyDelete
  19. Love that you spit down the stairwell. I am always amazed at those moments when my son looks at me like I'm an actual human being instead of some rule-handing-out robot. Those are the best moments!

    ReplyDelete
  20. and what did YOUR mother say about you teaching the 6 year old to spit down the stairwell???

    or was this something unspoken??

    lol! sounds like fun!

    ReplyDelete
  21. You are a great Mom and sound fun to be around. You just busted up my myth that women don't spit. Well, MOST women! LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  22. ha! I was just thinking about spit this morning...and now I'm thinking about that statement. Thinking about spit? Guess that means I have boys in my life!
    But seriously, I remember the little swell of pride when I first saw my son working outside, unselfconsciously spitting just like his dad.
    Spitting. It's so much more than expectorating.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Being a kid at whatever age is what it's all about.

    Bet I can beat you at a watermelon seed spitting contest.

    ReplyDelete

Tell me what's on your mind!