"Kids or dishes?"

Every night, after our family dinner, L and I divide and conquer. One of us clears the table and does all the dinner dishes. The other one corrals the children so the dishwasher can accomplish his/her task interruption-free.

Tonight, toward the end of dinner, Jellybean turned toward me with a mouthful and asked something indistinguishable. Once she swallowed her food, she repeated her question, "Kids or dishes, Mama?"

There you have it. L's and my nightly line repeated back to us before we could even say it to each other. We laughed, then I asked her who should have which job. She chose me for dishes so she could play her crazy airplane wrestling game with L (Peanut too, in a lighter version). That was fine with me.

When you have a child, you always know the phrases and words you overuse. Now we can add "Kids or dishes?" to that list.