Before updating on recent activities, I need to get this down so I can come back here and laugh over and over again. We don't often get to sit down as a family to eat together, but sometimes when we do, it is so entertaining. I'm not used to descriptive writing and I'll try to remember details.
Dinner was enchiladas on Monday, January 20. We were sitting in our "assigned" seats; Nick across from me, Gracie to my left, and Owen across from her next to Nick. Conversation was pretty slow and typical to start. Silence bothers Gracie a little so she starts talking about nonsense and weird things. She is playing with the grapes in her mouth. I was told they were really good grapes and extra crunchy, so she made sure we could hear them crunch when she chewed. Owen looked annoyed but didn't say anything as he was scratching his plate with his fork. Also very annoying.
Conversation shifted from many different topics and I cannot remember all of them. The grapes led to the discussion of how they are toxic to dogs so don't drop them on the floor. This sparked debate of "are grapes really going to kill dogs?" Nick made the point that a pound of chocolate did not kill our first dog, Jasmine. He added that Jasmine was also able to avoid eating all the almonds in the chocolate. Gracie asked if we could get another Rottweiler and somehow that led to Nick explaining how she actually died: Apparently Gracie did not understand what humanely euthanize with a lethal injection means and somehow she was not able to follow, and thought I killed Jasmine by accidentally injecting her with poison.
Nick continued making fun of her.
Owen said she was on the spectrum.
Nick didn't know what "the spectrum" meant. Looked it up and he gave the definition of the light spectrum, not knowing about autism.
Ensues the debate of what "spectrum" actually means and how it should be used.
Owen assured Nick that he was referring to the autism spectrum and Gracie is definitely on it.
What is wrong with our family...
Other notable moments included Nick referring back to the chocolate almond bar, but just saying "nuts." Gracie could not control her giggles. Then Nick thought it to be funny to continue with fun words, like "sack." Gracie struggled with controlling herself and Owen had a little grin on his face and covered it with his hands. She is laughing so hard she is crying and Owen looks a little confused as to how we got here in the dinner conversation.
At the end of dinner Gracie gets up and walks to the end of the table to fart, like that's far enough away to make a difference. I don't have words... Dinner ended after that. This is our family when we have a night at home together to eat. I wouldn't trade these crazy people for anyone. Whoever is reading this may not find it as entertaining as I do, but I truly love our weird family and that our children feel safe enough to be themselves. I cannot describe how happy it makes me to see them laughing uncontrollably together, even when it is completely inappropriate.
I did mention to Owen that his comment about Gracie is not appropriate. He looked at me with a serious face and said "I'm sorry mom." Then Gracie started laughing again. He just smiled. This all happened in less than 30 minutes, and I really can't make this stuff up.
There was a lot of learning going on: Euthanize, spectrum, toxicity of grapes and chocolate. Somehow I do not feel any smarter after this evening.
After I told my sister about this later, and she was laughing, she was thinking, "poor Gracie is probably going to think about some of these things all night." Nope. Not a chance. I don't think Gracie gave any of this another thought. Moved on.
Looks can be deceiving.
We look pretty normal here.
😆
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