My Super Power Would be Ignorance

This past weekend brought a visit from Fred's family; namely his Mom, sister and our niece. I feel very lucky to have in-laws that are a pleasure to be around.

I have heard some horror stories from friends about in-laws that come to visit and proceed to tell the wife everything she does wrong and how her children are going to end up in therapy because of it. I could not imagine Fred's family ever doing anything like that. They are fun, undemanding, and clean up after themselves (woo!). Plus, Fred's Mom brings us the Aero and Kit Kat bars that we so love.

Knowing that they read my blog is not leading me to say nice things about them. In fact, if I was not overly fond of them, I would write a post that in a round-about way suggested they curtail their visits in a very passive-aggressive fashion that I tend to be famous for.

Anyway, it was so fun to watch Elise interact with our 7-year old niece, Carolina. Elise thought everything Carolina did was hilarious and would light up as soon as she saw her. In turn, Carolina doted on Elise; helping to feed her, give her a bath and generally keep her entertained.

It was also nice that Elise was able to hear more Portuguese being spoken. I am so amazed at her progress with both languages and I love hearing her say something that starts in English and ends in Portuguese. The other day she was looking for her doll and said "where's my baby? Está aqui!" (here it is).

For the most part Fred's family speaks Portuguese amongst themselves when they come to visit. Over the years I have grasped more and more of the language and pretty much understand most of what is being said.

But there's a part of me - a very evil part - that wishes I had never let on about my knowledge of their language. It would almost be like having a super power... like reading their thoughts. Picture this:

They're all talking about where they would like to go have dinner. Fred's mom says she is really craving some pasta. Fred turns to me and in English says, "where do you think we should go to eat?"

I would reply, "You know, there is a really great Italian place that we could try... what do you think, Teresa?" And then there would be much rejoicing and they would lift me on their shoulders; proclaiming me as THE BEST DAUGHTER-IN-LAW EVER! They would then give me a shirt that says as much and everywhere I went, people would applaud me for my excellence.

These are the things I think about when I should be sleeping at night.