since i didn’t want to spend election night alone watching my country, in so much peril, go down the shitter, i went to sister #2’s house. because misery and fear love company.

jaycie and max were really quite engaged in all the election coverage. max showed me the “don’t vote for bush” dance he performed when sister #2 went to democratic headquarters a few weeks ago to pick up some kerry signs.

jaycie kept spelling vote. over and over and over again.

but, as often happens with young children, they quickly lost interest, especially when they discovered that george w. bush was currently president of their state.

max tried valiantly to get his sister to play with him.
“come on jayice,” he said.
“max, i’m reading,” she said, putting a bookmark in the harry potter book she was laying next to.
“you can’t read those big words!”
“i’m imagining i’m reading,” she said.
“fine!” he said.

then with blankie #1 and blankie #2 in his hands, he climbed onto my lap.

“let’s play a game aunt jodi,” he said.
“ok,” i said, because i can rarely resist boys in my lap. “what should we play.
“I WANNA PLAY!” jaycie shouted, tossing aside her book and taking up residence on the arm of the chair.
“i thought you were imagining you were reading,” i said.
“i’m done now,” jaycie said.
“did you imagine if the book was any good?”
“it was very good.”

“let’s play i spy,” max said.
“NO let’s play the spelling game,” jaycie said. “can we flip a coin to see who wins?”
“sure,” i said, tossing a smug grin at sister #2 because my genius coin flipping suggestion has stuck for months and months.

after the official coin toss, max won and we began i spy. that was fun for about 3.5 minutes, then jaycie wanted to play the spelling game. max agreed.

“ok, i am the spelling queen and i’ll tell you what to spell,” she said. max and i just shook our heads in agreement, because who are we to argue with the spelling queen?
“ok, i’ll go first,” jaycie said. “spell vote.” she looked at the sticker on her shirt. “vote, V-O-T-E-D, vote.”
“you cheated!” i said.
“nuhuh,” she said.
“yuhuh,” i said. “you looked at the sticker AND you spelled voted. now it’s someone else’s turn.”
“fine,” she hrmphed. “max, spell to. not the T-O-O one or the T-W-O one, but the other one.
“T-O-O-T” max spelled.
“that’s not to, that’s toot,” i said.

then because i said toot they had to laugh uproariously for about 12 minutes.

“ok,” jaycie said once the giggles died down. “spell elephant aunt jodi. spell it like this ‘cat C-A-T cat,’ only spell elephant.
“elephant,” i said. “E-L-E-P-H-A-N-T, elephant.”
“good, she said. “now i’ll go. cat C-A-T cat. now max, spell toot.”

another 12 minute giggling intermission.

“toot T-O-O-T toot,” max said.

another 12 minutes worth of giggling.

“ok aunt jodi spell vocabulary words,” jaycie said.
“how come i get all the hard ones?”
“can’t you spell it?” jaycie asked.
“yes, i can.”
“then spell it.”
“i want an easy one.”
“mom, jodi can’t spell vocabulary words,” jaycie snitched.
“vocabulary words,” i said. “V-O-C-A-B-U-L-A-R-Y W-O-R-D-S, vocabualry words.”
“now it’s aunt jodi’s turn for a game,” max said. “aunt jodi what do you want to play?”
“how about we play silent contemplation?” i asked.
“i never heard of that game,” jaycie said.
“how do you play?” max asked.
“well you sit quietly and think about the things that happened during the day and reflect on how they effected your life.”
“i think i’m gonna do some homework instead,” jaycie said.
“slient contemplation sounds kinda hard,” max said. “i know! how about we talk about what you’re gonna get me for christmas.”