Last Night

Big N refers to last night all the time. Last night is any point in time that has not occurred today. This could be dinner out, a day at the park, playing, Christmas, last easter, his birthday party last year, his birthday party this year, pretty much any time in the past.

This morning, I made Big N's favorite all time food, pancakes. Big N didn't look too happy about it and I didn't know what to think. It appears he remembered one of my big cooking flops that I had forgotten. I attempted yogurt based pancakes a few weeks ago. I had actually forgotten about the incident, or I successfully blocked it out, but Big N did not. They were awful, completely inedible. I thought it was an opportunity to add some dairy and healthy fats to his diet and the pancakes came out dense, thick and awful. They looked like perfect pancakes and Big N was thrilled until that first bite. He chewed and tried to like them but only ate the promised 3 bites. So, this morning when I made pancakes, he was skeptical. He had a big discussion with Daddy, "Last night, when Mommy made bad pancakes, I didn't like them. Is she making bad pancakes, Daddy?" It took A LOT of coaxing, but after the 1st bite, he ate 4 pancakes. "Mommy made the good recipe! She didn't make the ones from last night!" Yes, last night was a month ago and Big N has the memory of an elephant when it comes to bad pancakes.

The other big last night discussion occurred when we went to eat fast food. I try to avoid the overly processed fast food joints, but it is sometimes unavoidable. And the bright colors and successful marketing schemes appeal to my kids. It is a special occasion in our house to eat out at a fast food joint. We had not been at the one place in over 4 months and I have both kids with me in line, trying to keep them under control. Big N is looking at the toy options and he says loudly, "Last night when we were here, they had a school bus. Where is the school bus?" The woman behind me starts to tsk-tsk. Yes, at times, "last night" can be embarrassing.

Perhaps we should work on a new frame of reference. We're going to work on "last week," but then that wouldn't work if we are at the dentist. "Last week when we brushed our teeth..."