In Which We Observe the English Geekery of Cat’s Children

Conversation in the car while driving home from an afternoon outing:

“Hey, Dad! Mom!” Alli suddenly piped up from the backseat. “That boy in the car next to us? He just waved at me gleefully!”

Tanner and Hannah snickered from the backseat.

“Did you say… ‘gleefully’?” I asked, struggling to keep my voice from breaking with the trill of laughter bubbling inside of me.

“Yeah! Look! He’s all waving at me gleefully!”

TGIM and I exchanged looks brimming with laughter.

“Yep. She’s your daughter,” he said.

*********

Conversation while watching Never Been Kissed, a movie throughout which Drew Barrymore’s character corrects the grammar of everyone around her:

After being asked where she was the night before, Drew’s character (Josie) answered, “Oh, I must have forgot.”

“‘Forgotten’,” Tanner quickly corrected, more to himself than anyone else. “She should have said, ‘I must have forgotten.’”

Silence. Then… “Very nice! High fives and kudos, my English geek son!” I gushed, near-bursting with motherly pride

With a half-proud, half-embarrassed grin, Tanner slapped my outstretched hand.

“NICE,” I repeated, shaking my head in admiration, before settling back to enjoy the rest of the movie.