Although it is October, we're going through a little heat wave here in Los Angeles. Today in Sherman Oaks it was 101 degrees. Since the kids woke up earlier than usual this morning, I had the time to change their diapers and get them into their clothes. The morning is the easiest time of the day to do their diapers and clothes because they're so groggy. I like to call it the baby hang-over: they're tired, incoherent, and they have piss in their pants.
Due to the weather, I thought I would put the kids in summer clothing. I put Andrew into a green striped t-shirt and some shorts; Emma wore a flowery cotton dress. When it comes to dressing the kids, there's a big difference between the method Lisa and I use. Lisa takes her time and looks carefully through the dresser drawer. Lisa looks outside and determines what the weather is. If we're having guests, she makes sure the kids are wearing something that they received as a gift. She also figures out a cute color coordination with the outfits. Maybe Andrew's top is blue and his pants are red, and then Emma's top is red and her pants are blue! Or maybe the flowers on Emma's dress matches the sailboat on Andrew's t-shirt. How delightfully cute!
On the other hand, my clothing selection is much more simple: whatever is on top. Funny enough that was also how I selected girlfriends in college.
My parents arrived around 7:30am to babysit. The first thing I heard is my mom in a falsetto voice singing, "Hellooooooooo. Wheeeeere Annnnnnndreeeeeew? Helloooooooo Emmmmmmaaaaaa! Guesssss who heeeeeeere? Grandmaaaaa and Daddddddy!" Yes, my mom often gets her proper nouns confused. She'll call herself Mommy and call me Grandpa. Sadly I can't even blame this confusion on her Japanese accent. It's just plain wacky.
My mom saw that I got the kids dressed, and of course she had to criticize my choice of clothes.
"It hot today! Hot hot hot! Emma wear dress? Hmm. Hard for her to crawl. Andrew has t-shirt on? Maybe he should wear tank top?"
I just shake my head and tell my mom what they're wearing is fine. She then told me how cold it is at night and whether or not the kids are wearing enough clothing. I told her it's going to be over a hundred degrees today and the kids are just fine going to sleep wearing a thong. If it's good enough for me, it's good enough for them. And the clothing conversation ended.
BUT...
...when I got home from work today guess what I noticed? Both kids were wearing totally new outfits! Emma was out of her dress and was wearing a yellow tank top. And Andrew's green t-shirt was replaced with a red tank top. I got hoodwinked! When I left for work, my mom redressed the kids! I was bamboozled! My mom ignored my wishes and did what she wanted to do! She did not respect my au-tho-ri-tay! Shazbot!
I suppose this is a part of the whole I've-raised-two-kids-and-I-know-what's-right-and-you-don't-so-listen-to-Grandma shpeel. Sometimes I forget that even though I'm a parent, I'm still a kid to my parents. Thankfully, I can laugh at this incident of my mom not listening to me. Hell, I'm used to it. Lisa hasn't listened to me for the past ten years.
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