The family is sitting in the car, waiting for the air conditioning to kick in.
Luke (whining): I'm hot.
David: Nice to meet you, Hot. I'm Fred.
Luke (whining louder): I'm hot. I'm really hot.
David: Nice to meet you, Hot. I'm Fred.
Luke (starting to cry angrily): I'm HOT!
Steph: Luke, we acknowledge your condition and we deeply regret it.
Luke starts to wail in earnest.
Steph: What? That was a nice thing to say.
**
We've had a couple of trying days. Luke came down with some virus and he hasn't been in the cheeriest of moods. I knew he was sick when he started to weep the other night at bedtime. When I asked him what was wrong, he shudderingly told me that he didn't want to get married.
"Well, you're not getting married any time soon, honey," I said.
He cried louder. "I don't want to get married ever," he said.
"Okay," I said. "You don't have to get married ever."
"I don't want to get married," he wailed.
"Okay, okay!" I said. "You don't have to!"
"I want to stay here with you and Daddy forever."
"Okay," I said.
As much as I, personally, am charmed by this idea, it's conversations like the one we had in the car today that make me pretty sure he'll want to move out as soon as he hits puberty. If not before.