There are times you bond without expecting to.
One of the “features” of the new house is a refrigerator that’s as old as the hills. It matches the dishwasher that’s as old as the hills, and they keep one another company with a cacophany of roars, groans, squeaks, and unidentifiable creakings.
Kiddo#1 noticed immediately that the fridge lacked an icemaker. In the past, whenever I knew we’d need ice, I flipped the switch inside the freezer, and as far as he knew, ice made itself.
I, on the other hand, knew firsthand that ice is formed either by falling from the sky or by putting it into the freezer in liquid form. The previous owners had left the ice trays with the fridge (I guess they were getting a nice new fridge for their nice new place) and we’ve been using those.
Kiddo#1 looked in awe at the ice trays and said, “Is that how you make ice?”
When I indicated that was the case, he said, “I’ll do it.”
Problem: how do you remove the ice cubes from the tray? You can’t pick them out. You can’t push them out. He frowned and finally asked for help, so I showed him how to twist the tray to pop everything out.
After he put them into the ice container, he said, “And then you put water in it?”
I showed him how you put the water in the ice trays and about how far up you want it to go, otherwise you can’t get them out afterward.
He was pleased by this new area of learning, and since then, he’s wanted to take charge of the ice trays.
Well, except for the time Kiddo#2 left the ice cube container on the table for three hours. It’s a learning curve for all of them.
You know, I laughed at this. But looking at it…if you never knew about something as simple as twisting an Ice tray…you would be amazed by it.
Think about it, he has never had to change a channel by getting up and twisting the dial. And others.
That’s the way it always is, Jason. Do you know how to use a pen knife to sharpen a pen? Tha’ts what they’re for after all. Buf if you’ve never seen it, and never been shown how to do it, you won’t know how to do it.
We drink a lot of ice water in our family, and it was DS’s job to keep the ice cube trays filled, and he was very diligent about it. When he went off to college, among the things we missed was a consistent supply of ice cubes, so when he would come home, we always joked about the ice, claiming that only he knew the recipe. “Is it two Hs or two Os?” we’d ask.
When we redid the kitchen, I bought a fridge with an ice maker and I tell him it’s because he no longer takes care of the ice. We still need him to maintain the computer, however. 😉
My parents got an automatic ice maker after I moved out. Every time the water ran into it, it sounded like someone peeing. So glad they changed it before the grandkids arrived. Then again, it would be one more thing to laugh about with them.
Nuala, got to remember that about the recipe for ice. That’s pretty cool.
Cricket, our old ice maker made a rude sound when it dumped the ice out of the tray and into the bucket beneath. My oldest never got over that sound.