Hockey

I should put this into my 'Little things they say' post that I've been working on for forever, but it would be a rather long section, and that post is getting long enough as it is.

Some of you may know that the Hockey Playoffs are going strong right now. Sir occasionally listens to the radio broadcasts for the games during the regular season, so our kids have slowly been introduced to the sport. But for the Playoffs, Sir spoils them and downloads actual video versions of the games and as a special Daddy/kidlet time, they watch the game or part of a game on his laptop.

That said, Dolly has really gotten into it. She has an incredible memory and quickly learns the names of the teams and who they've beaten or lost to. She's also learned the name, logo and colors of our local Vancouver team. It's very cute to watch. Until we're driving. Or unless she expects me to intelligently discuss whether the Penguins should have beat the Flyers or if I thought the Capitals or the Blackhawks or the Canucks or the Flames or the Sharks or the Ducks or whatever other team she has buzzing around in her head should win or lose this game or that.

Around here, if the Canucks win a game, people go crazy. They honk their car horns for hours after the game and one out of every five... or is it three? cars proudly flies a flag (or in some cases up to 6 flags) bearing one of the team's logos.

So, we're out driving and the Canucks had won some momentous? game and people are honking at every intersection. Dolly pipes up from the back seat as the kids and I make our way home from the grocery store, "Mommy, why is everybody honking?" "I guess the Canucks won a game today or something." I replied. She thought about that for a few minutes. "But why do they want to honk their horns?" she pressed. "Probably because they're happy that we won the game." I said. "Are we glad they won the game?" Dolly asked "I guess." I absentmindedly returned. "Maybe we should honk our horn. Don't you think so, Mommy?" I'm sure I disappointed her by insisting that there were probably enough people honking that we didn't need to join in.

Every single time we're in the car, Dolly will point out vehicles with a hockey flag or flags on them. "That means that person likes hockey!! doesn't it Mommy?" she said one day. "Um hmm," I helpfully reply. "That person must REALLY like hockey!" She points out as a car with four flags drives by us." "Probably." I respond. You'd think this would get old, but she exclaims in excitement every time she sees a flag, and we often repeat the interchange above multiple times during each car ride.

Tonight I was ignoring the kids and speeding through a good book when Dolly announced her presence with a loud huff as she plopped herself down on the chair opposite me. "Well. I guess we really don't like hockey, Mommy." She sadly? dramatically? dejectedly? all of the abovely? stated. "Why is that?" I asked more curious about her mannerisms than her words. "Well," she began with a wave of her hands that ended up plopping into her lap "we don't have a hockey flag on our car." she finished very matter-of-factly. I had to go tell Sir about this latest conclusion our daughter had come to. When I came back, I told Dolly that she should talk to Grandpa C. because I suspected he might show her the collection of lost car flags that he's gathered from the sides of the roads. And that seemed to brighten her mood.

But to be fair, I should clarify that it isn't just Dolly that is completely engrossed in our Canadian sport. PC and Emma are almost as bad - they just can't talk about it as much. Daily PC will ask me if there's 'a ock-ey game oo'night?' and Emma will often barge her way into Sir's office and politely stand at his knee and say, "Pease, wah ockey?!"

This evening all three of them were fighting over a Bubble Tape container in the middle of the living room when they heard Sir start playing the latest downloaded game of hockey in our room. You should have seen the shock and excitement on all three faces as they realized that there was HOCKEY TO WATCH!!! And the stampede over each other in the race to get the best spot to watch the game was hilarious as well. Dolly immediately released the gum container that she was trying to wrench from Emma's tightly gripping hands, Emma completely forgot the container, dropped it and ran, PC bending to pick up the container got run over by Dolly who by then was running to the bedroom and then he too, dropped the container and ran to join his sisters. It was priceless. Now I'm going to bed.