7 Quick Takes

Linking up with Jen for 7 Quick Takes. Head on over to her to see some other than alma-mater-centric takes. 

In honor of the start of the the football season tomorrow (I'm talking the ND football season not NCAA in general), all seven of these quick takes will be about Ryan's obsession with our Irish. It really seems to have exploded the past two weeks, but realistically, I think it is just a word explosion coinciding with the our non-stop anticipation of the first game rather than being an ND savant. Either way, it is going to be blog-documented. 

1. When we were in Texas, Chris' Uncle Steve (Hi, Uncle Steve!) so generously gave us a framed photo of the Snow Bowl, which just happened to be Chris' very first Notre Dame football game when he was six years old. When we got home, I just propped it up on this dresser until I can hang it (at eye level, of course! Uncle Steve is a master at decorating his house and that is one tip that I remember). Ryan kept staring at the photo and then started chanting, "Game! Game! Game!" 

Chris asked me if I had told him that the frame was a football game. I had to furrow my eyebrow and think about the past events of the morning ... I actually didn't. 

2. Later that afternoon, Ryan upgraded his jabber to, "Football! Game! Daddy!" The pressure is on, Chris ... 

3. I mentioned that Ryan enjoyed my rendition of the fight song during our little road trip. When we traveled to Charlotte for Laura's wedding, he kept requesting, "Dame!" which normally means he wants me to sing Notre Dame, Our Mother, the alma mater. When I started to sing it, he would vehemently demand, "Dame! March!" After some Ryan-translator eyebrow furrowing, I realized he was asking for the fight song. Which means that he can understand words in songs even when I am not making my hands into an itsy-bitsy spider or singing about animals. Bye-bye non-censored Mumford & Sons. 

4. He has known known that Jesus was on the front of the library for a while, but during a bike ride past the mural this week, it was finally upgraded to, "Touchdown! Jesus!" The touchdown portion is said with a lot of gusto.

5. He has been bringing me this book to read to him. "Gipper!" he says. Well if that doesn't warm a Domer heart, what does?

6. We can't ride past the stadium without him seeing a football statue and then saying, "Football! Running! Fast! Tackle!" 

7. We have been practicing the phrase, "Go Irish!" 

It sounds like, "I-shit."

I'm going to be a typical, optimistic fan and say that his shoddy pronunciation is not foreshadowing the outcome of the upcoming season. Let's just hope he doesn't ask for a fork at a tailgate tomorrow right before he sees a leprechaun shirt. Oh me, oh my.