"No me!"
"No me!"
"NO ME!!"
"NO ME!!"
I turn towards the kids' tunnel, covered in blankets and jackets, flocked by boots, blocked on one end by the dog bed, and chime in, "No me!"
"No me!" Elias says from somewhere inside their cave.
"No me!" Olive mimics.
"No you!" I try, hoping I won't have to get up from the kitchen table and intervene.
"No me!" Elias shouts, from that precarious edge where laughter meets aggression.
"No me!" Olive cries, both determined and desperate.
"No me!" Nick contributes from the living-room.
"NO ME!!"
"NO ME!!" And it continues this way, until Elias laughs and says, "I don't even know what we're me-ing about."
Crisis averted.
What fabulous parenting those kids get from you & Nick. What a great way to diffuse a potentially tense situation. What a grown-up response from Elias. Love it.
Posted by: danielle in zurich | 04/08/2013 at 01:11 AM
I love the strategy here and plan to try it myself....was it the humor or the confusion that made it work do you think? started my Monday off with a laugh so thank you for that!
Posted by: fleming | 04/08/2013 at 05:36 AM
Have had good luck with this strategy too if I could only remember in the heat of the moment.
Posted by: Kate | 04/08/2013 at 03:05 PM
As a language teacher, I will add that it is pretty cool that he created a verb, "me'ing" to address the situation!
Posted by: danielle in zurich | 04/09/2013 at 03:12 AM
Danielle, thank you and yes, I loved the term me-ing too:)
Fleming, i think it was both. I think we distracted him from whatever it was they were fighting over and with Elias it seems distraction is key for defusing situations either with humor or confusion or something of high interest, like the laundry machine beeping, seriously, he loves changing the laundry.
Thanks all!!!
Posted by: Christy | 04/10/2013 at 07:53 AM