From the Mouths of Little Boys

Yesterday evening, after my husband and I had returned from the quinta, our grandkids Sofía and Ian came over with their dad. Sofía was sound asleep and was deposited on a couch, but Ian was full of life and had much to say.

Ian is six. He is adorable. He has big brown eyes, lashes to die for, and a non-stop personality. He sat at the table with me and my husband while he polished off an orange, and he filled us in on the latest:

"There are bad guys on the road to the quinta," he calmly asserted.

My husband and I looked at one another.

"Who told you that? What bad guys?"

"Dad told me," he replied.

"I'm going to have to speak to your dad, then," I said. What in the world was going on? Why was Rodrigo scaring Ian about going to the quinta? Ian adores the quinta.

"You can't do that, he's Dad," stated Ian flatly.

"Oh yeah? Well, I'm your dad's mom, so I can set him straight any time I need to," I clarified.

"They stole Felipe," added Ian.

"What??? Who's Felipe?" chimed in my husband. Things seemed to be going from bad to worse.

"I don't know," said Ian with irritation, as if Felipe's identity was a minor matter, "but they stole him. Bad guys," he added, since it was evident his grandparents were not the sharpest crayons in the box.

At that point Rodrigo came in and we demanded to know why he was scaring Ian about going to the quinta. Rodrigo was totally perplexed and never could find out from Ian who Felipe was or who told him these things. My suspicions lie with Alejandra, who is frightened of everything going on in Mexico (justifiably so) and thinks driving to the quinta is taking your life in your hands.

Then my husband proposed taking the children to get an ice cream cone, and while he was getting an umbrella (it rained last night!), Ian was giving me a big hug and climbing into my lap. He looked deep into my eyes and said:

"Hey, you look like an iguana! You've got that thing under your chin that hangs down!"

As soon as I reach my desired weight, it's off to the plastic surgeon, by dang.