La Poussette

The French word of the day is pousser. It’s pronounced poo-say and it means “to push.” It also means” to grow” (as in plants), and it also means “to grow up” – as in – what kids do.

A related word is poussette (poo-set), which means “stroller,” and now that Petit Prince has gone and pousser-d, we are leaving the stroller days behind with mixed feelings. (Mine).

Remember this?

This is its counterpart.

While the most common guess (albeit false) was crumb scraper, and my personal favorite guess (from Vikki) was “a tiny fairy hoe” … let’s all take a minute and giggle at that one …

the correct guess will come as a complete shock to Stacey who didn’t think she could possibly be right. However, she hit the nail on the head when she said, “To shovel food onto your fork?? (I’m mannerless, obviously.)”

Mannerless, but clever, my friend.

And finally Cynthia honed in even more accurately in the facebook comments when she asked, “Is it a Victorian food pusher?”

Well Cynthia, hats off! You guessed it! Its a pusher! A poussette.

Sir’s aunt spent Christmas Eve with us and when she saw Petit Prince’s slovenly habits, she had her twin sister send us the only remaining silver poussette and spoon in the family.

So that Petit Prince’s face wouldn’t look like this.

Sadly, the effort goes to waste, as it’s much more logical to him as a crumb scraper than anything destined for the mouth.

And his hands are just as dirty as they are when he pushes the food onto the fork with his fingers.

In other completely unrelated news, Young Knight turned seven.

We love him.

Hunter is becoming slightly less beastly, although I can’t say the same for some other people I’ve encountered who’ve hinted that I’m not a responsible dog owner, even though I’m the only one in the entire country who cleans up her dog’s poop.

So I let him off the leash once in a grassy pedestrian area where there were no people – until there was someone in the form of an old man who came along walking his dog. He kept hitting Hunter with his cane when he came up to play with the other dog, oblivious to my apologies and attempts to retrieve my dog before he incurred brain damage.

And so I brought Hunter into the gym with Petit Prince, to set him up for his class, and had Hunter firmly on the leash, which didn’t prevent his straining forward and frightening a small girl.

Her father ignored my repeated apologies (I had him on a leash!) and said, “C’est pas drole, ça.” That’s not funny,” or  – something along the lines of, “You’ve got some nerve.”

Grr. What’s wrong with these people?

Young Lady still has her “amoreux.” I didn’t realize this but Viktor has been constant in his affection for two whole years! Since they were six!

His mother invited our family over for tea and snacks, and he gelled his hair for the occasion. Can you believe it? Couldn’t you just die?

He said, “Do you think she’ll like it mommy?” She went on to tell me about all the questions he was already asking about buying a house and getting job – may I just repeat the fact that he’s eight years old?

His mom also told me yesterday that he had three pieces of good news to share with her, the first of which was that Young Lady was now assigned to be seated right next to him in class. The second was that she liked only him.

“How do you know she only likes you?” asked his father.

“I asked her,” he responded seriously.

Apparently Young Lady is not the only one who likes him. While she got just two votes to be a class representative, he brought home the election.

Hmm. I feel she may have a bright future before her as wife to a politician with a steady job, who owns his own house and manages to groom himself. Maybe the poussette is really meant for the next generation of awkward eaters. 

PS Kidding about the grandkids.

PPS His third piece of good news was that their class was going swimming Thursday.

 

Comments

I love to hear from you, friends. You can comment using the box below or your Facebook profile. But FB doesn't notify me of new comments, so if the post is more than a week old and you want to make sure I see your comment, it's better to use the comment box. Merci!