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Does my 7 year old have super powers?

A solid question that every parent asks themselves at least 2 times a day. Generally, with a hefty chunk of cynicism in the tone of the voice in our heads. That parent-ish voice that is constantly prompting a flashy red "WT actual F?" in neon lights into the back of our pupils. The anatomic ones, not those that our children supposedly are, yet so successfully resist to be.

But although that question is usually asked after the kids creating an unfathomable amount of chaos in an inconceivably short amount of time, today, I asked it myself seriously.

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Does my kid has some kind of power to manipulate the universe?

You see, yesterday I wrote about today being my last day of my vacation and getting to Hamburg today. Guess what? You guessed right. And if you didn't, please sit on the silent stairs for an hour. For some reason, I woke up in the middle of what is usually my deep sleep phase, and 90min before the "I might wake up to pee, depending on how much and what I drank the night before"-phase, at 1.30am. And for some reason I checked the phone. I don't do that at night, it wakes me up. But I did. And boy, did I wake up! As if Serj Tankian was in my face screaming that famous first line (love that song & band!).

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"Your booking needs attention!"

Yeah, well, no shit, Sherlock, you got it, my whole, undivided flowery attention at a refreshing 1.30am in the morning. Suck it all up, dear KLM App, it's all yours, don't worry about my sleep. You'd make an great Tamagotchi!

Okay, breath. Breeeaaaath. Done. Remember your guess? That's where we are now. Nothing I could do at that time, though I obviously crawled through the internet trying to find out what to do. But the KLM Whatsapp bot got useless instantly, stubbornly sending always the same unsuitable message, and the office didn't open until 8am (they never answered the phone afterwards, either). And the big flight from AMS to UIO was still 30h away.

Talk about putting my stoicism to a test...

So, I turned on my favorite philosophy podcast, and thanks to the topic being Shakespeare (who'd guessed that old quill torturer could be interpreted from a philosophy standpoint! That would've changed my attitude towards his work in English classes!) I fell asleep rather quickly until Lily woke me up coming for some snuggles after she woke up.

Oh, right. Lily. Now, the flight is completely cancelled, too much snow and wind and bla. Lily's mom understood, which was one of my worries - I have a legal obligation to bring Lily back into Ecuador tomorrow. And Ecuadorian law usually stands above all reason and logic, so something extraordinary like "impressively bad weather that lowers the chances of surviving the flight" might be dismissed as "fantasy" if it comes to it.

But now the scary part - it's exactly what Lily wanted. Top of the list of her wishes to Santa was snow. Okay, it was second, first was a puppy that she then would leave in the care of my mother when we'd go back to Ecuador (got that idea from my brother who pulled off something similar once, great dog). And then, yesterday, she was like "Oh, I'd like to stay a little longer to play a little more with the snow. I haven't built a big snowman yet."

Lily is creative, I give her that. Her snowman has a scarf and a fancy lady's hat.

Tadaaaa, it's magic!

Next day, flight cancelled, too much snow. Coincidence, you think? When we arrive, there was no snow forecast at all. Not even below 0°C temperatures until the mid of January. Okay, forecasts fail. But guess where mom took Lily today? To see puppies at a friend's of hers! She sent a video of Lily sitting among the puppies crawling all over her, high as a kite on puppy love, smiling from one ear to the next and two times around the head! Remember her wish list? Top and second?

Oh no, no coincidence! She's not getting a puppy, of course, we have like a bazillion street dogs in Ecuador, waiting to be adopted as soon as we find a suitable home to move into. But still. I'm wary now. I suspect that she's developing a super power that influences the universe in her favor.

But no worries. She's a good kid, I'm taking care of that. If she really has that super power, the world might even be better off.


I hope you got a chuckle out of this. Please feel free to engage in any original way, including dropping links to your posts on similar topics. I'm happy to read (and curate) any quality content that is not created by LLM/AI, as well as read your own experience and point of view, I love to learn!

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5 comments

Santa worked hard with the snowfalls to make a child's dream come true. It was easier with the puppies :)

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Yeah, that was one of the other theories. That Santa just focused so much on the snow that he didn't have enough energy left for the puppies :-D

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I love that pic of Lily with the sled! Nice composition! Even with her face hidden from view, her joy, and the potential of the moment, is palpable! šŸ™‚

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I'm quite happy with that one, too. Kids that age either move too fast to take a good picture, or are not yet capable to fake for a picture. So every snapshot is just that, pure coincidence and accompanied by many failed attempts :-D

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Haha that's fantastic! I'm actually really happy Lily got more snow time, though I felt a little of your anxiety and hope you won't get into trouble! I mean, acts of weather, right, you cant get into trouble for that? Can she manipulate the universe to fix my hip please? Or is it just things that she wants? Given she's seven, I know the answer to that already....

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I have more time to plan and chill this way. Not the worst. I have enough things to do, still, so all good. Going to do some online work and stuff like that, a few video calls to see if I can pre-organize, such things. And as I wrote many times, watching the little one so happy is worth it.

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You'd make an great Tamagotchi!

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If she really has that super power, the world might even be better off.

How can I help to bring more og her super powers into action?

I hope you got a chuckle out of this.

Don't you worry. Honestly? Many!

The question is, now a day after this post: Are you making it back to Ecuador in time?

The stupid thing is, we are (the Dutchies) so not used to snow anymore - when we get some snow, just for a day - none of our logistics organisations have all the equipment to de-snow and de-ice, this includes our roads and all that. Had snow in the street in front of my apartment (in the middle of Amsterdam, full of snow and ice for a week, no sand, no salt... no capacity in the lorries putting that shizzle down). The fortunate thing for me this week was my customer didn't want me to be seen in their offices so my travel time (every single day) from home to work and back was like 5 seconds 🄳

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You got quite lucky then! Though my office is very much the same. Only that after 1 month of absence, there are some cracks in the team feeling at the bakery that I have to fix, and that's better done in person. But they might survive another week without beating each other to death with day old baguettes.

Definitely not making it back "in time". KLM says that they'll have to wait until Monday before they can rebook any flights. I'm at their mercy, so... The videos they publish about their de-icing process and such are pretty cool to watch. Even better if I was inside the de-iced plane, but can't have it all. Just gotta take it as it is and start home schooling Lily for a week. Not the worst, she's smart, so it's fun.

In Germany it's quite the same with the supply. Nobody is used to snow anymore. My brother lives on Fehmarn, an island nearby, and the mayor sent out a warning mail asking everyone to stock up for the whole weekend (such a long time! Eternity! Who can think that far!) as they don't have neither the equipment nor the product to clean and salt/sand the roads.

I hope you survive this catastrophic weekend ahead of us! See you on the other side!

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The cuckles and LOLs continue...

...without beating each other to death with day old baguettes.

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whole weekend (such a long time! Eternity! Who can think that far!)

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Fehmarn

That is quite north of Germany... Almost Denmark.

You could also not do the homeschooling, or just a little bit, so your vacation is extended.
NJOY the SNOW with your little one, since back in Ecuador, snow can only be seen on screen.

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If I were you, my friend? I'd be careful to stay on Lily's good side. šŸ˜‚ I mean... better safe than sorry, right?

Remember all those mantras I recited for her when she was really little? Could they have brought forth supernatural powers? Or is she actually a higher being pretending to be a little girl (I knew a street dog, once, who was a transformation body Bodhisattva, so it's possible).

Finally? This is one of the best things you've written. You've got a real knack for humor.

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I'd be careful to stay on Lily's good side.

The dilemma of all parenting! I want to stay on her good side, but I also want to make sure that her good side is inherently "good"! I can't do that by always staying on her good side, I sometimes have to go against her will, which can make me the bad guy in the short term. Could write a post about that...

Remember all those mantras I recited for her when she was really little? Could they have brought forth supernatural powers?

Oh crap. That could just be it! Please be careful with the mantras you recite for her mom, that could backfire destructively 🤣

Or is she actually a higher being pretending to be a little girl (I knew a street dog, once, who was a transformation body Bodhisattva, so it's possible).

She did get along incredibly well with Bear. So who knows, maybe it wasn't for the treats that she gave him, but for some further connection.

Finally? This is one of the best things you've written. You've got a real knack for humor.

Thank you! Means a lot coming from you! Humor doesn't always work out for me, I have to be in a setting of enough stupid stress that can only be explained with the absurdity of life.

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