Costume

The other day, out of nowhere, Andy said, “Olivia says, 'No matter what the question, costume is always a very good answer'". Say what? I asked him who Olivia was, and he said it was Olivia the pig, from the fabulous kids’ books. Apparently while we were in Myrtle Beach this summer, he watched a few episodes of the Olivia cartoon with his friend, Anna. We don’t usually watch Olivia, so I didn’t know where he was coming from.

So, all afternoon Andy and Sarah kept asking each other inane questions, and they would always shout out the answer, “COSTUME”. It took Sarah a couple of minutes, or questions, to catch on, but she finally got it. She liked it so much she was giggling uncontrollably. Now, when you are around Sarah and she is whining and crying most of the time, it is amazingly refreshing to hear her giggling. It is contagious.

It didn’t take long before the game got a little old, at least for me, but the kids were having a blast. I tried to end it with, “Andy, what do you wear on Halloween?”, but they kept it going. Not just that day, the next day it picked up again. “COSTUME”, “COSTUME”, “COSTUME”.

It gets a little annoying, but here’s the plus. They weren’t fighting, or crying, or whining, or yelling at each other (unless you count saying costume at high volume). They were talking and playing and having a great time. Together. It may take an annoying game to make it happen, but that’s okay with me.

COSTUME!