Coco had a sleep-over for the kick off of her birthday week. Unable to contain her excitement, she sat a clock in front of herself an hour before her friend arrived so she could count down every minute.

We went to the movie Underdog, had ice cream, made an Underdog* cake; and stuffed the Hello Kitty pinata (see last blog entry for details). Then, at about 8 p.m. the girls walked down the steps in unison and asked me if they could watch T.V.

Are you crazy? I wanted to say. But instead I looked at their cute faces; summoned one more ounce of energy and said:
Why no! There just might be a surprise in store for you if you both can play for ten minutes upstairs.

I had purchased two rubbery, spikey, yet soft, balls (made in China of course) that blinked colors if you smacked it hard enough with your hand. I knew the balls would sail us right into bed time.

Really? my daughter said.

Maybe I said.

The two girls hunched their shoulders and walked up the stairs.
Coco whispered to her friend:

I know what my mom means when she says maybe! It means yes! My mom is really funny!

As I pulled out the blinky balls and wandered around the living room for a place to hide them so we could play the “hot/cold” game, I wondered:

Is that funny strange or is that ha ha funny?

Funny thing - I take both as a compliment.

*Underdog is called Supercan in Spanish, which I kind of get, but yikes, can’t we come up with something a bit catchier or closer to the actual meaning??!!