Wild stories

Alright, I have endured two trips home to/from school in the last two days, listening to a barrage of questions from Kathleen about stories told by Jim. My husband has a knack for taking a rather bland event in our lives and creating a spectacle beyond any reasonable realm.

Story #1:
Jim had a childhood friend named Wendy. Unfortunately, Wendy had a very serious accident whereby a light bulb somehow burst and so seriously damaged her eye that it was lost and replaced by a glass eyeball. [Most of that story is true - and is tremendously tragic - a child lost her eye. I am not making light of the poor girl's misfortunes.] To Kathleen, this story of the glass eye was too intriguing to miss. We heard about how durable glass eyeballs really are (it wouldn't break even if a building fell on it ... husband's response - 'No, it wouldn't but poor Wendy would have bigger problems.'], did she wear a patch like a pirate, what did her mom say when she got hurt. It was endless - by time we reached the end of the drive, I wasn't feeling too sorry for Wendy, pretty darn frustrated with husband's creative imagination and Kathleen's endless curiosity.

Story #2:
Kathleen wanted to hear a story from when she was a baby that she hadn't ever heard before today. Jim came up with this outrageous story about our trip to Saratoga NY in August 2003. We had taken a tour of the backstretch and met up with a very friendly 3-year-old cold that liked people (a lot!!). Jim decided to manipulate the story that the colt came over and nibbled on Kathleen's ear. AND, to the tune of the music from 'Spirit' [great movie], all the other horses cheered for Kathleen. [Andrew loves that part of the story.] Thankfully, the part of the story with a rifle shot into the air to calm all the horses(???? - missed the logic on that part) was quickly forgotten. Kathleen can't stop asking - why did the horse like me so much, why did the man tell us to get away from his horse (OK - part of the rifle story came through), and why were all the other horses cheering for Kathleen?

We have run into a few issues (questions) from Kathleen's teachers because of the unbelievable stories told by Jim. Kathleen, as you would imagine any 4 year old, takes them very literally and always believes every word uttered by her father, becomes quite distressed when her friends, at circle times, doubt her stories. I think the parrot chewing the finger off a kid's hand as well as something about a bad kid living in a cage in the basement got all the children riled up a few months ago ... and Jim received a bit of questioning from the teacher (all in fun!).

Andrew listens to the stories but has fewer questions at this point - I can only imagine our car rides when they both can pepper us with endless questions.

And, you wonder why I forbid a (permanent) DVD player in the car - while a bit much at times, the wild stories and the questions do make the drives home a lot more fun.