the king of wistful thinking

went to the grocery with juancho and his parents last week (he turned 3 today! why did he grow up??? why??? why???). on the way to the store, he was showing me his "go-se-wee wist", which was actually a blank sheet of paper that juancho hung on to as if his life depended on it.

we placed him in one of those kiddie carts, the kind that was part-car and part-shopping cart, and every so often, juancho would get out of his "car" (while it was in motion, mind you. note to self: a few years from now, let nephew pursue career as stuntman), look at his wist and put random items in the cart. apparently, juancho needed:

- a small carton of juice ("that's not a good brand, juanch.");
- a small bag of chips ahoy;
- lighter fluid (you can imagine his mom's reaction to that one);
- a bag of corn chips; and
- a huge bucket of assorted biscuits (ok, this one he only TRIED to carry. it was bigger than juanch).

of course we dutifully put every item back on the shelf when the little shopper wasn't looking (i admit, i tried to leave the chips ahoy but his mom discovered it anyway).

we decided to eat out afterwards, and juancho thought it would be a good idea to bring his wist to the restaurant. unfortunately, he forgot all about it when we left.

a few minutes after we left the parking space, juancho started shouting, "MOM!!! i forgot my wist!!!"

"you can make another one, juanch."

"no, mom! i need my wist! we have to go back! let's go back!"

"you can have tatay's list, juanch"

"no no no! i need my wist! i weft it on the table!"

"it was dirty, juanch. remember we spilled sauce on it?"

"it's not dowty, mom! i forgot my wist!" (friends, if you have never seen a hysterical 3-year-old then you don't know what it's like to be trapped inside a car with one. let me just say that it is an amusing/frustrating/deafening experience.)

and so it went on and on and on (and on) until my sister ("mom") successfully diverted her son's attention and they started discussing how to make confetti for juancho's upcoming party. the forgotten list was forgotten.

all throughout the ruckus, i had been busy humming ambrosia's "biggest part of me" in my head (didn't want to contribute to the noise pollution). in between a dialogue break, i suddenly felt the urge to sing part of the song out loud:

"make a LIST, baby!"

. . . which, of course, was followed by juancho's:

"MOM!!! I FORGOT MY WIST!!!"

this, of course, prompted a "gee thaaanks" from juancho's parents. it will be a long (loooong) time before i get invited to future grocery trips.