So my fabulous mother in law (Nana) drove all the way here from Mass on Saturday to take care of M and our nephew Jack for 4 hours so Jay and I could go to Brewfest with his sister and brother in law. In an unusual moment, Con and one of his slightly older teenaged friends agreed to go to a playground with the two small kids and Nana. They may have been lured by the basketball court and the high post-ice cream-potential and the ability to climb to the absolute top of all playground structures with no school personnel demanding otherwise. (Yay for summer vacation!) M is obsessed with maps and has difficulty with many words. She loves to "give the directions." She cannot pronounce "directions." She can pronounce "erections." M is not quiet. The map in the backseat is of Androscoggin Riverlands. This is not where they were headed.
That is irrelevant.
M spent all of their car trip pointing to her map of elsewhere, waving it around, and yelling, "NANA! I GIVE YOU THE ERECTIONS! HERE ARE THE ERECTIONS!" Jack, who is also 6, but has no articulation issues, and a pretty impressive grasp of the English language, spent all of their car trip yelling, "IT'S NOT ERECTIONS! IT'S DIRECTIONS! NOT ERECTIONS!" The 2 male teenagers in the car spent all of their car trip making wide eyed, stunned faces at each other, and avoiding actual laughter, because the adult in the car was Nana from Massachusetts, who is not around quite enough for them to burst into hilarity at the word ERECTIONS being screamed every 12 seconds for 10 straight minutes all around them.
I was unfortunately not present for this car trip, but got to hear the terrific retelling afterward when all previous underage occupants of the car (who were either clueless, indignant, or horrified) were elsewhere.
Nana loves visiting us, I'm sure of it.