Reading: Almost done with The Diamond Age. I hate to see it end, yet I can't stop myself from devouring it whenever I get a chance to read.

Watching: The SciFi channel off and on today while working on my latest set of pages. In the morning I watched Mystery Science Theater 3000 and laughed myself silly. Back when I was up practically round the clock nursing the twins, MST3K was the highlight of each long, long, night. This evening, I watched The Hidden, also on the SciFi channel. It came out in 1987 and was one of the first movies Tab and I saw in the theater together. I like Kyle MacLachlan and most of the story; too bad the sappy ending kind of ruins it.

Post Script from Tab (really!): I want it on record that I would not object in the least if Els turns out like her mother. My mother-in-law is a wonderful person, and we get along very well. I freely admit that I was much luckier than Els when it came to getting mothers-in-law. Background courtesy of
Ace of Space

Becoming My Mother

Both Tab and I had a lot of work we wanted to get done this weekend, so we decided we'd each get a day to work. Today was mine. Tab took the boys out most of the day so that I could work on my next set of master pages due for the Press.

One of the drawbacks to working at home is that home matters always intrude, even if I am supposed to have the whole day to do my work. Tab will go to his darkroom in Princeton tomorrow to do his own photo work and won't be called upon to fix midmorning snacks or make sandwiches to take to the park as I was asked to do today. Still, I feel lucky to have had a few large blocks of uninterrupted time today. Once again, I enjoyed the serenity of a quiet house and the freedom to work without having to stop and referee fights or refill milk cups.

I have come to the conclusion that I am becoming my mother. The metamorphosis may not be apparent to the eye, but is all too obvious to the ear. Since having kids of my own, I've found myself using many of Mom's words and catchphrases that sometimes amused and sometimes annoyed me and her other daughters.

My sister Lori and I discussed this phenomenon today. She and her family were in town visiting Nana on their way back home to Maine after a vacation in North Carolina. I took the boys over to Nana's to see their cousins, and eventually we drifted out back. At one point, a couple of my boys were wrestling on the glider. "Guys, stop roughhousing," I said.

Turning back to Lori, I commented, "That's a Mom-word, isn't it? I never said roughhousing before I had kids. There are other Mom-words that I say now, too. Stop dawdling. Don't bicker."

"I say bicker a lot too," said Lori. "Do you say We'll see?"

"Yeah, I do."

"I don't say that," Lori said.

"Yes, you do, Mom," Lori's younger son, Richie, interjected.

"I do? Alex, do I say We'll see?"

Lori's daughter Alex concurred.

"But when you say it, do you really mean no, like Mom always did?" Lori asked me.

"No, not necessarily. I use it to buy myself some time if I don't want to answer the question right away."

Growing up, we quickly learned that whenever Mom answered "We'll see" in response to a request, she actually meant "No." We hated to hear "We'll see" once we figured out what it really meant.

I guess picking up Mom's parenting vocabulary was inevitable, just as it was inevitable that I would develop a taste for the burned piece of toast, rarely be able to eat more than four consecutive bites of dinner without having to get up to fetch something for someone, and learn how to get in and out of the bathroom in less than thirty seconds flat.

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