Fame

Walt has been dying to show Adam and all of his CLUE colleagues that one of their own had her photo in the latest Memphis Zoo magazine.  He had a copy rolled up in his snack bag this morning, and Adam's feet were still on the street outside the car door when the first and best exchange of the morning occurred:

Walt:  LOOK!!!  Look, Adam.  Look whose picture is in this magazine!  She made the news!  She's famous!

Adam, after casually glancing over at the page while I was buckling his belt: I saw a guy with a green face at Chick-fil-a once.

Luckily for Walt, most of the rest of the class was very excited about their newly-minted superstar.  Adam never said another word about it.

Good Choices and Snack Packs

Today was Walt and Adam's best friend, Meredith's first day of Clue. I asked them if they thought Mer had a good first day.

Adam: I think she liked it. But she just got her first sticker, so she can't pick anything from the Good Choice box. I only have one sticker left to get before I can pick from the Good Choice box. Not tomorrow, but the NEXT DAY!!

Then Walt told all about his excitement for Friday when the "Bug Guy" would be visiting his school. Adam was fairly disgusted until Walt assured him the bugs were in cages.

As we pulled up to the intersection at Union and Danny Thomas, the boys reminded me that we needed to pass out a Snack Pack to the hungry man standing beside the car. I told them we didn't have anymore. I was interrupted with two very loud, unison "YES WE DO!!! THERE'S ONE BACK HERE!!"

Sure enough, one Snack Pack was hidden under my seat near Adam's feet. I could barely reach it, but just in time, we were able to give the food to the man before the light turned green. He was very appreciative and said thanks to the boys. Then they made plans for going to the store to buy the needed supplies to make more Snack Packs.

Further down Union, Adam said, "Hey! That's where my Dreamatologist is. He fixed my cheeks. They're white now, but they were red." Yes, Adam should have a dreamatologist. He's had some really weird dreams lately!

No Confidence

I know I'm the rookie in this, but what gives? Today marked by third time to drop the boys off. Before we even left our house to pick up Walt, Adam told me he didn't want me to take them to school. He wanted mom to instead. I asked why. His response: "Because I don't want you to keep breaking the rules." Something about where to park the car.

Apparently neither one of them has much confidence in my ability to get them to school. Needless to say, I decided to be stubborn and park somewhere I knew would be different. They didn't like it. I told them to man up - "Five blocks isn't going to kill you." They cried. OK, most of that I just made up. Good to get a morning started like that. It wasn't even a block that we had to walk, and there were no tears. Maybe they even like me a little more. Or not.

One more thing about this morning...there was silence for over 2 minutes at one point. It was as if they had nothing else to talk about. It felt very weird. I almost started talking just to break the awkward silence. You'll all be happy to know that I resisted, and soon enough a reference to Star Wars came out, and all was ok with the world again.

A Life Lesson

Adam: It’s NOT Fair!

Me: What’s not fair?

Adam: Noah and Doran got to pick something from the “Good Choice Bag” and I didn’t. It’s NOT FAIR!

Walt: Well, Adam. When your card fills up with stickers you can pick something from the “Good Choice Bag.”

Adam: I have to get two more stickers. But it’s NOT FAIR!

Walt: Adam, sometimes some people… (he hesitates)

Adam: Walt, I want to hear what comes out of your mouth…

Walt: Well… sometimes… some people get things and other people don’t.

Adam: It’s NOT FAIR!

Walt: Hey Adam, do you want to save someone today?

Adam: Yeah! Let’s save Asoka! (from Lego Star Wars on Wii)

…and all becomes FAIR with the world as they plot how to save Asoka from certain doom.

Amazon and China

I had the privilege of doing the morning carpool duties today and found that the boys are much chattier in the mornings. Adam was quite thrilled to show off his new Mace Windu Lightsaber that the wonderful UPS man delivered yesterday. Adam had been saving his coins for months for something special, and he shopped for a while with his very proud dad, finally choosing the purple lightsaber.

So, with his new toy in hand, in the carseat, he told Walt about it, again. (Walt had already seen it yesterday during a playdate.)

W: Where did your new lightsaber come from?

A: It came from Amazon.

W: Oh.

A: You can get one from Amazon too.

W: Where did Amazon get it from?

A: I don't know. Maybe Target?

W: I think Amazon got it from China. That's where all toys come from.

A: That's a lot of toys in China!

W: (taking the lightsaber from Adam.) Look...it says "Made in China. 2008." 2008. That's a long time ago.

A: That's a big number! (oblivious to the fact that it's a year.)

A: Look! It's the FedEx Forum!

You're Not a Single Lady!

These aren't our kids, but if they were, they'd definitely be on the blog. And Josh, we need video cameras!

Spring No More

As soon as the seat belts were buckled, the boys asked to play Lego Star Wars on the Wii when we got home. I expected this and decided to reply with my rule about "no Wii on sunny days. You guys can play outside today. It's so nice!"

Adam pouted loudly, "I wish Spring wasn't a season. I don't like sunny days. I like days where we have to stay inside and I can play Wii."

How did I not see this coming? Am I unintentionally giving my son a reason to hate sunny days? Their complaining went on for a little while, but I stuck to my guns. And suggested that they do another Star Wars play, outside. See previous post...same episode, same scene. But at least they are outside.

His Daddy's a Lawyer

It must be nice having all of your memories compacted into about two years' time.  You can remember just about everything that's ever happened to you or been said to you (unless, of course, it was said to you two minutes before and involved eating, getting dressed, getting out of bed, leaving your brother alone, washing your hands, getting into bed or anything not fun).  Or at least that's how it works with Walt.  Poor Adam.  Again he suffers abuse at the hands of Walt's selective (and generously embellished) memory . . .

W: Do you remember which episode you watched first?
A: Yeah.  Episode IV.
W: Which episode did you watch second?
A: I don't know.
W: Five?
A: No.
W: Six?
A: No.
W: One?
A: No.
W: Two?
A: No.
W: Three?
A: No.
W: Well, which one did you watch next?
A: I don't remember.  Which one did you watch first?
W: Episode IV.  And then I watched Episode VI and then Episode V, and then I watched Episode II.  And then I think I saw Episode I and then Episode III.  Yeah.  That's right.

This can't possibly be true, can it?  Regardless, Adam didn't challenge him on it, and that's going to come back to haunt him, because one day Walt's going to be all . . . "Yeah . . . she said her number was 8-6-7-5-3-0-9.  You should call her."  Meanwhile, her number is firmly implanted in Walt's brain and is nothing close to what he told Adam, and Walt has a date set up for Friday night.

You gotta watch this guy, Adam; trust me, I'm a lawyer.  Would I lie to you?