Science!

Michael rushed to meet me at the door today. He could not wait to tell me that he had memorized the first 14 elements of the periodic table. I did not know that he knew about the periodic table. But whatever, no time for questions, because he proceeded to recite the first 14 elements. He did not have them down pat. But close. And (get this), he even looked up pronunciation of the elements he was unsure of on his iPad. Wow. When he gave me the chance, I asked if he is studying chemistry in school. "No. I got the book from the library." Okay. He then started telling me facts about different elements. For example, the atomic weight of hydrogen (or maybe helium), the fact that many elements are formed from bombarding one element with nuclei or atoms of another element, that Einstein has an element named after him, that a certain element, if cut up into very small pieces, will combust if it comes into contact with oxygen, etc. He sat down with his book on the elements and kept reading and offering little bits of information. It was great. Will Michael's new-found interest in chemistry be lasting? Obviously I do not know. But either way, it is fun for now.

If Wishes Were Horses

Although I think both boys do actually enjoy school, they never seem to want to go. Neither resists it, but Sunday evenings usually contain at least one plaintive,"I wish it were Friday evening." Spencer needs variety though. He does not want to make the same boring old wish each week. Recently he has tried out, "I wish it were Friday evening every day." That did not satisfy Spencer though (and I do not think it was because of the paradoxical "evening every day" issue), so he set off in an entirely new direction, "I wish we won the lottery." Spencer seemed to think that great wealth would mean no school. I told him that winning the lottery would not in fact excuse him from attending school. He let that soak in for the next couple hours. Until bedtime. As I was tucking him in, he said "I wish we won the lottery and Michael and I were done with college, and we still lived here together with you and Jon. Then we could all hang out together and just relax." I would like that too. The days do get busy and hectic sometimes. I love the time on the weekends when we all get together on the couch with popcorn and watch a movie and just relax. I am glad that Michael and Spencer enjoy these times together right now too.

Autumn Leaves

Apple Orchard 2011

No Offense

One day over the summer, Spencer sat down next to me and said, "no offense but your legs are fat." If that was not bad enough, he followed that lovely comment with, "no offense but your neck has a lot of wrinkles." I explained (or, attempted to explain) to Spencer that the fact that he prefaces a comment with "no offense" does not guarantee that the person he is criticizing will not feel bad or offended.

Fast forward three months, in the morning, before school. As the boys are walking out of the house, I asked them to wait so that I could check my hair. Spencer responded, "you look beautiful," slight pause, then "...sort of." Michael, who always wants to make sure that nobody feels bad, countered with, "you look more beautiful than a supermodel." Obviously Michael's comment was way over the top, but it was sweet of him and I appreciated it. If the conversation had ended there, I likely would have forgotten all about it, but it did not end there. Spencer reproached Michael with, "don't say that to Mom. That's not true."

He did not add "no offense."