We begin our annual writer's conference in just a few hours. I've been wrapping up details all day long. This year's event is just a little more taxing (for me, at least) than usual because of all the organizational changes that are being implemented, and should be reflected in the writing. New acronyms, new jargon, new strategies, new systems. None of it is hard, there's just a lot of it.
So, we have an evening session tonight, no "Must See TV" for Bryan. Then we go all day tomorrow. I have to quickly review my powerpoint (and I'm a believer of 'less is more' when it comes to this instructional tool), and just get my final things in order to be able to speak cogently on the matters at hand.
Other big events...Cotter registered for kindergarten today. And another little piece of my heart ripped open. I love that my children are growing up, but I have yet to experience a time when I thought, "I can't wait until this stage passes." I have cherished each stage with each of my children, and the only thing that makes the passing of each stage bearable is the knowledge that the stage that follows brings its own blessings.
I have to learn to quit messing with Cotter's head. The other day, he was getting his check up for eyes, ears, height, weight, and whatever. He had to get a couple of shots, unexpectedly, to comply with Georgia regulations. So he was a little sensitive on the issue. That night, I told him, "you know, Cotter, if you can't read in kindergarten, they give a shot every day until you can."
"Really?" he asked with eyes as big headlights.
"Oh yeah," I said. "And the needle is huge. It pokes in one side of your arm and out the other."
"No sir!" he said, and laughed, nervously.
Well, I pretty much let it go after that, figuring he knew I was kidding.
Today, on the way home after registering, he asked Kelli, "Momma, was Kaylyn a good reader when she was in kindergarten?"
"She was about as good as you," Kelli answered.
"So she had to get a shot every day, to help her learn how to read?" he asked incredulously.
Of course, that's when Kelli set the record straight and made the mental note to brain me with a frying pan for needlessly filling my son with anxiety.
I, on the other hand, would likely have just said, "No, son. That's because we lived in Colorado back then. They only do that here in Georgia -- for the little boys who come from Colorado."
April 29, 2004 4:05 PM"If it were Tuesday, then you'd get the top bunk ...."
Posted by: Tony Rosen at April 29, 2004 4:11 PMCan I use that shot idea for lazy third graders who won't memorize their multiplication facts?
Posted by: Christopher at April 29, 2004 7:01 PMAlas my days of messing with the twins like that are over. They are just too old to fall for it. I have to admit I laughed pretty hard at your post.
Posted by: aithne at May 1, 2004 8:10 AMUm, I was actually cringing at this post. :-(
Sorry.
Jared,
You don't need to be sorry...I'm the one who was sorry! Normally, Cotter reads me pretty easily...he'll reply with something along the line of "no sir, daddy!" or "I can tell you're joking." And if there's any question, he'll usually go to the source, and ask, "Mommy, is daddy kidding?" So when he said "no sir" and didn't ask further, we forgot about it and moved on. It was until I came home and my bride said, "you're in trouble, Dr. Hypodermic," that I really began to feel bad. All is better, now...we've established with him that there is no direct link between reading ability and immunization.
Posted by: Bryan at May 1, 2004 10:34 PMAh, now I get it. Apologies, again. I was under the mistaken impression that you let him go on believing that. My bad.
On a lighter note, I think the extent to my messing with my two-year-old's head is when I told her that there's a little man in the printer who writes all the pages we print out. She peers in there for minutes on end looking for him.
Posted by: Jared at May 2, 2004 11:34 AMThat's funny! My most lasting contribution to the miseducation of Master Cotter James has to do with calling apartments "togetherments" because they aren't apart at all. The needle episode was too much akin to the Jack Handy-ish example of answering the peurile question, "Why does it rain?" with "Because God is crying, about something you did."
Posted by: Bryan at May 2, 2004 5:04 PMCrying about something you did! Now I am cringing. :)
Want some smilies Bryan?
Posted by: Christopher at May 2, 2004 5:43 PM