*Isobel comes home from school today all excited- her class had been discussing the very real possibility of a snow day tomorrow. Her teacher had a few suggestions: put a spoon under a pillow, put ice cubes in the toilets, and wear your pajamas inside out and then… boom! A snow day will appear. I’ve never heard any of this shit before, so Isobel had to explain it all to me, very patiently (well, a snow day did hang in the balance)…*
“Mommy! I need ice! And a spoon.”
“What, why?”
“Because that’s how we get a snow day.”
“Um. Okay. Here’s your stuff,” I say, handing her a bowl of ice and a spoon.
Isobel wanders off for a while, then comes back in the kitchen, where I’m finishing my sociology homework. She puts the bowl in the sink and sits down at the table.
“Mom. I put a spoon under your pillow.”
“What? Why?”
“Well, if I put a spoon under a pillow, we get a snow day. And I can’t put it under my pillow, I move around too much. And not Dad’s, he’ll never notice it. Yours is perfect.”
“That’s not really how it works, baby. But okay, please stick a note on top of my pillow to remind me about the spoon?”
“Sure, Mommy!” She runs off.
*Later, at bedtime, she put on her pajamas inside out, having long since flushed the melted ice cubes down the toilets. After she’s all ready for bed, I get a text from the school letting me know they’re closed tomorrow. I tell her on the monitor and she replies…*
“See? It worked!”
Why, Mommy? 