Sometimes I want to ask Mom for something, and I know if she says no, the little kids will be upset.  So I just spell it out to her so they don’t understand.

But now there is a problem… Fletcher, Greyden, and Indigo can all spell now! And even though Hewitt and Jade can’t spell, all they have to do is ask, and they will have three very proud translators.

I’ve had to start spelling in code.

So if I want to know if we can watch a movie, I have to spell out “M-O-V-I-N-G-P-I-C-T-U-R-E”.

If I want to know if it’s bed time, I have to spell out “S-L-U-M-B-E-R”.

We have really good friends, the Vessels. The Vessels just adopted two girls my age from China, and I go and visit them every once in a while. Indigo likes to visit Lydia (who is her age) when I go visit Faith and Anna. But I like to go by myself sometimes.

One day when we were passing the road that leads to their house, and the conversation went like this:

Me: “Mom, I would like to go to the J-A-R-S” house soon. (I thought that was really clever).

Indigo: “I would really like to go to the Vessels’ house too.”

Me: “How did you know that I meant the Vessels?!?”

Indigo: “We just passed the road to their house, so that’s how I knew.”

Wow, she’s smart.

Since then, Mom and I have taken to calling them the U-R-N-S and she has not figured that out yet.

Normally Mom and I spell in code and always understand each other.  But not always…

Me: “Mom, can we make the “K-I-T-T-E-N-B-R-E-A-D?”.

Mom: “Huh?”

Me (slower): “Mom, can we make the “K-I-T-T-E-N-B-R-E-A-D?”.

Mom: “Kittenbread?!?”

I mouthed Ginger, while pointing at Ginger.

She still did not get it.

By that point, everyone was staring at us, trying to figure out what in the heck I was trying to get across. I gave up and said, “Can we make the Gingerbread cookies that are in the fridge?”

Mom finally realized what I was trying to say, and started cracking up. I think she must have been really tired. She’s usually faster than that.