Dinner songs and yucky elbows

"A, E, I, O, U!" I sang at the start of dinner.

"I love you!" sang Miriam, Benjamin, Zoë, and Alexander in response. 

"You can take me hot to go!" Phoebe sang loudly.

The first call and response was in reference to Muzzy, which I had thought that I had written about...but evidently have not. 

My Auntie Colleen once told me a story about when she and Uncle LeRon heard a song on a show that was so catchy. They would sing it to each other but they weren't sure what it meant. 

"Ah-ay-ee-oh-oo! Te quiero!" 

They decided they should probably look it up so they could know what they were singing. So they did and then felt silly because they were just singing the vowel names. 

We got really into Muzzy a couple of years ago so all the kids knew this song, but not Phoebe, who pulled from Chappell Roan instead—the line that comes after H-O-T-T-O-G-O. 

*****

At the end of dinner Andrew said something like, "After dinner...a couple of things. First, I wanna..."

And then he paused a great pause.

"Run through the halls of my high school!" I sang from John Mayer's 'No Such Thing.' "I wanna scream at the top of my lungs!!"

"What's going on?!" Miriam sang loudly in response (a line from 4 Non Blondes' 'What's Up?'), which, honestly, I'm not sure anyone in her generation has heard all the way through (but it's a rather popular "sound" on Instagram videos these days).

*****

Phoebe has been obsessed with "yucky elbows" for quite some time. Years, in fact. She despises those wrinkly folds and has boasted about her perfectly smooth baby elbows...for years. 

Like since she could talk, basically. 

The other day I was doing something in the kitchen and she was hanging out, just chatting to me. 

She stopped talking suddenly and so I looked over at her. She had leaned up against the wall and was rubbing her little elbows. 

"What's up?" I asked. 

"Mom!" she choked out, her little voice breaking a little. "My elbows are getting yucky!"

"Oh, sweetie," I said. "It's okay. You're just getting older and using your skin more. If they're dry we can put some lotion on..."

"I don't love them!" she said, tearing up. 

So I stopped what I was doing and just held her (and her yucky elbows) for a minute because sometimes in life you just feel like your body is a traitor. I understand that feeling. 

Sometimes it's for small things like yucky elbows or gray hair. 

Sometimes it's for bigger things like a sprained ankle before a big race. 

Sometimes it's even bigger like not being able to keep a baby inside full term. 

Hopefully she can come to terms with her body, though, because even though sometimes our bodies are traitors...they're also pretty miraculous...