Lighter Notes

Our receptionist buzzes my office. There is a light giggle in her tone, odd for our office these past few days.

"Line one is for you," [snicker].

"G~W~," I say in my best, 'I am a professional ball-buster' voice.

"Hi Mama!" Lana squeals. "Is Lana!"

"Hi sweetheart," I say, surprised she is calling me, all by herself. "Are you okay? Where's daddy?"

"Yeah, mom, I okay. Daddy just starting his run on treadmill. But, I need to cancel our appointment today." [This comes out sounding like "I neeta canshel ow appertnent tuhday" but, I know what she's trying to say." (She has a speech impediment, but her vocabulary is impressive.)

"You need to cancel our appointment?" I ask, incredulously.

"Yeah, I just gonna stay home and swim in the pool with Daddy and Gabe? Kay? So, cancel our appointment."

Evidently, I was suppose to pencil in a meeting with my five-year-old, but, she's cancelled it, due to the fact that she'd rather swim. Go figure. What impresses me most is that she was able to find the listing for "mom's office" in the call log of our phone, and dial it. She's a pretty savvy cookie, that one.

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It's come to this. I am taking hula-hoop tips from an 8-year-old girl. My latest obsession is my new weighted hula-hoop, which I can now keep going for 3 and half minutes straight. (I find that the song "Animals" by Nickelback is particularly good for background hula-hoop music. The beat is just right, or something.) Anyway, Lexi, our 8 year old neighbor, is the reigning hula-hoop queen of the neighborhood. Two nights ago, she walked the entire rectangle around our pool, including stepping up on to the diving board and jumping down, while keeping her hula hoop in motion around her waist. And she did it without breaking a sweat and with barely appearing to move her tiny body. I was so fascinated I thought about taking notes.

It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Her advice is not particularly helpful, though. "I just do it," she answers, when I ask her how she is doing it. Kids.