knock knock.... who's there? it's me, your crazy mother.

This morning was continuous struggles: three time-outs (one of which I had to stand at the door to ensure she didn't escape and one for Luke who thought it would be hilarious to take his steel..steel? aluminum? I have no idea what it's made of; if you're imagining a 20-pound cup right now it probably wasn't steel or aluminum, but it was hard...anyway he took that sippy cup and bopped his sister in the head with it). There was lots of pushing/pulling/hitting, lots of tears over things that are not nearly that sad unless you've just gotten out of your time-out and so find everything that much more desperately dramatic. Oy! What a morning! Oy, oy, oy. More than once I prayed, people--I actually prayed so that I wouldn't just kick these adorable children of mine in their adorable little patukases.

ANYWAY.

So, finally there was some peace. And wow, it's amazing what a quiet moment of children munching so whole-heartedly on their pb&j sandwiches and slurping up their applesauce can do for one's spirit.

And then Maren started telling her not-even-remotely hilarious knock-knock jokes, but that make us laugh nonetheless.

Maren: Knock-knock.
Mom: Who's there?
Maren: Hat. [I'm wearing a hat today.]
Mom: Hat who?
Maren: Hat sandwich! [While Maren enjoys her pb&j sandwich.]

Clearly, the object of this game is to name different things in the room as you see them or as you're doing them. This is totally how I do improv when I have no idea what I'm doing. It's how us amateurs end up desperately and embarrassingly saying "poop" and "booger" all the time - when the mind goes blank it gets replaced by the basest and silliest things. Maren's version of that tends to be what is currently hanging on the wall. Like:

Maren: Knock-knock.
Mom: Who's there?
Maren: Triceratops [Looking at the picture of a triceratops from preschool hanging in our window.]
Mom: Triceratops who?
Maren: Triceratops table! [Where we were presently sitting.]

Here was my favorite. This one actually showed some improvisational talent. Nutty and random, and brilliantly capturing the essence of her audience (me).

Maren: Knock-knock.
Mom: Who's there?
Maren: Pictures all around.
Mom: Pictures all around who?
Maren: I forgot my keys!

Oh the highs and lows of parenting in the span of 20 minutes. It makes one feel the teensiest bit insane. In a good way.