For reasons which were unclear – unless it is the general odour of sanctity which pervades the school in the wake of the first holy communions – Daniel started saying the Hail Mary in Irish one morning. He was doing fine until he got to “pray for us sinners” where he began to mix it up slightly with the second part of the Our Father from “give us this day our daily bread”. The net result was that he said, “Tabhair dúinn ár bpeacai inniu”. In other words, he asked the Virgin to “give us our sins today”; I suppose that would ensure that all sins were at the venial end of the spectrum.
Middle Child
Unanswerable
Daniel: I don’t want to go to bed. I want to play desert soldiers.
Me: It’s bed time. You had all afternoon to play desert soldiers.
Him: But I only thought it up now.
We Laughed, We Cried
We had the school Feis last Saturday. The Princess won second place with her rendition of “An TÃogar” by Máire Nà Ghallchobhair. She was very pleased.
And she got cake.
Neither of her brothers won anything (“An Seilide” by Gabriel Rosenstock for Michael and “An bhfaca tú mo ShéamaisÃn?” Traditional for Daniel). They both cried. Not in the course of their performance but on hearing the results of the independent jury. Alas.
Lingually Erupting Mandibular Incisors
Look, Daniel has shark teeth.
Cool!
Distressing
I came home from work one day to find that the Princess had written her will and got the boys to draw up wills also. She had given them a fictional €100 to dispense. I said to Daniel, “Will you read me your will?” He started out cheerily enough. “I leave [herself] €15. I leave Michael half of the money and the parents all the rest. Signed Daniel.” And then his voice broke as he read, “I wish that all of my relatives never forget me.” He’d drawn a tombstone with RIP on the back.
Honestly, she’s like Wednesday Addams.
Misunderstanding
Daniel: Prey is the same as warship, isn’t it?
Me: Well, no, prey is something you chase after and normally a warship does the chasing.
Herself: He means pray and worship and, Dan, the answer is yes.