‘Mommy, I puked!’ I heard my son Ot shout, a mixture of triumph and excitement in his voice.
‘Alrighty then. Will you go and clean it up?’ I shouted back, and had myself another sip of tea.
‘Daddy is much nicer,’ my seventeen year olds daughter suddenly declared in a quiet tone of voice.
I wrapped myself in silence, trying to enjoy my tea.
‘Daddy cleans up our vomit!’
‘The thing is, if you know you have to clean it up yourself, you run much faster to make it to the bathroom,’ I explained. ‘So all things considered, you are very lucky to have me as your mom.’
‘Ot puked his guts out!’ my fifteen year old son entered the kitchen, telling me nothing I didn’t know already.
‘Did he clean up after himself?’ I asked.
My son looked at me in disbelief and then said: ‘Noob*’
‘How do you mean ‘Noob’?
‘You are a Noob because you’re making him clean up his own vomit. Daddy is much nicer.’
‘That’s because your daddy is a Noob!’ I concluded. ‘If he wasn’t he would be more like me.’
* Newbie or noob is a slang term for a novice or newcomer, or somebody inexperienced in any profession or activity