12/01/2010

phantom children

I am the type of person that appreciates the strange twists that come about from day to day living. Our family has a lot of weird stuff that doesn't mean a thing to anybody but us. The perfect examples of 'you had to be there...'

For instance, if you heard one of us say, with a British accent, "We don't like it," it would be followed by snickers and giggles from the rest of us. And, I'm sure you wouldn't expect anybody looking out the car window to yell, "John Deere!" when one was spotted, but it happens in our car. You would probably try to ignore one of us imitating, in slow motion no less, someone  taking a bullet for another and saying, 'Nooooooooo!' in the middle of a SkipBo game.  See? You had to be there.

So, when a phantom set of children popped up in conversation a few weeks ago, I wasn't really surprised.

You see, Otterboy and Missy spend a week at our house and then a week at their Mum's house and the two households have some things that are distinctly different, like the food that is served and what the kids' responsibilities are. We have always tried to be open with the kids and try to keep discussions about the differences on a light note. Naturally, we have some inside jokes about the differences and these seem to come up at the dinner table.

And then, it happened.

When one of the kids asked for more meat, Hubby said, "Well, the other children always ask for more vegetables. They don't ask for more meat."

"What other children?"

"The ones that are here the weeks that you aren't."

And, not missing a beat, the discussion went on about what 'the other children' did and didn't do.

I was relieved that they reacted so well, but had a twinge of guilt that it might not be emotionally healthy for them. I guess I needn't have worried because these 'other children' come up in conversation a lot. And then, Otterboy played his trump card last week.

 He told us how the 'other parents' buy them more ice cream than we do!!

So we now have phantom children and phantom parents. I don't know if it's  healthy but it sure is interesting!

7 comments:

The South African Kiwis said...

OMW! I have got to try that one!

Connie said...

Joking about having to deal with separation has got to be a good thing :) We have other children in our house too. Honor discovered them. They are the kids who live in the mirrors. Honor's twin is named Amanda. :)

merinz said...

Hehe, I think it is healthy to joke about it!

Our identical twin grandsons, for ages when they looked in a mirror, just said 'bruvver'. They thought that they were looking at their brother not themselves!

Kristy @Loveandblasphemy said...

That is hilarious! I love it! Here from BPOTW. From your title, at first, I thought this would be about girls who don't know they are pregnant and then give birth unexpectedly. What the?

Nancy/BLissed-Out Grandma said...

This is really funny. Seems like it's healthy for the kids to be able to joke about their "double life."

Rob-bear said...

I've just popped by from Miss Kris' place.

The whole conversation: how utterly logical (once it got going). And funny.

I've always believed that real humour benefits sanity.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Sounds to me like the kids are doing beautifully! They got themselves a great sense of humor. I love it!