Is it just my kids, or is this normal?

There were a couple of goldfish crackers on the kitchen floor. I asked the boys who was eating goldfish, and was told Calfgrit7 was. I asked him to come pick up the crackers and put them in the garbage. (Yes, I could have picked them up, but they need to clean up their own messes, even minor ones.) So CG7 starts walking towards me to pick up the crackers off the floor. Satisfied that he was going to do what I told him, I walked away.

A few minutes later, I walked through the kitchen and noticed the crackers are still on the floor. What the hell? When I left, CG7 was three feet from them and closing on the crackers. But somehow he missed and didn’t follow through. I had to call him back and stand over him to make sure he actually picked them up and put them in the trash can.

Later, the kitchen table was covered in plates and bowls. I asked who put all the stuff on the table. Calfgrit7 again. I told the little guy to please clear the table of his mess. So he walked over, picked up a plate, took it and put it on the counter, then ran off to play again. I called him back, “CG7, that was just one thing. Clear all your dishes, please.”

“Oh,” he said. He picked up one bowl and put it away. Then he ran off to play again. There were still  two more bowls, a spoon and a butter knife on the table. (What he had been doing with it all, I have no idea.)

“CG7!” I said, “clear everything away.”

He threw his hands up, “I didn’t know that’s what you meant!”

We both got into a frustrated argument over what “clear the table” means.

Calfgrit11 is also blind to stuff like that. We can put a laundry basket of clean clothes in the middle of his room floor, and he’ll play around it all day. When we ask him if he’s put away his clean clothes, he says, “What clean clothes?”

I have even put the basket in his doorway so he can’t go into his room without moving it. He pushes it to the side, and still, later he asks, “What clean clothes?”

If either boy is missing a tiny piece of a toy, on the patterned den carpet, they can find it in a few moments. But a non-toy or a chore sitting right out blatantly in front of them, it’s invisible. Is this normal?

Bullgrit

At the start of WWII, the British Ministry of Information designed and produced some posters to boost citizen morale. That’s where the “Keep Calm and Carry On” posters originated. In recent years, these posters, and various spoofs of them have resurfaced as novelties and/or humor bits.

Well, though I’m shamefully slow to jump on a pop culture bandwagon, I do eventually get on board:

Keep Calm and Call Dad

So when all hell breaks loose in your world, remember help is just a phone call away. Keep calm and call dad.

Brogrit and I could have used this reminder when we were young. Our dad was usually a calm man even in a stressful situation, and whatever trouble or circumstances we boys might be in, we knew we could always rely on Dad to deal with it calmly.

Bullgrit

Tom Angleberger visited a local bookstore last week, and I took Calfgrit11 out to see him. CG11 is joining the book club, (called “Guys Read”), at his new middle school, and this author’s tour was to be his first introduction to the group.

We got there at 6:30, (half an hour before the author was to get there), and immediately found Angleberger’s latest book: Secret of the Fortune Wookie on front display. There was already a sizable crowd of kids and parents, at the book store, (mostly boys and moms), so I directed CG11 to grab us some seats while I continued looking around to find a new book for me to read.

I haven’t had the time to read much in the last few years, what with family life, work responsibilities, my exercise regimen, and maintaining this site taking up all my time. I used to read a lot, but I’ve been somewhat saddened by my lack of the activity recently. I see how much CG11 reads, and I’ve thought that he’s probably already read as many books by 6th grade as I have at 45 years old. But then as I browsed the science fiction and fantasy section of the book store I was reminded of just how much I really have read through the years. At just about every classic author’s section, I found that I’d already read all or most of their books. It kind of got a bit comical that I couldn’t find something I hadn’t already read.

Sure, there were many newer books by newer authors, but I wasn’t sure of their quality, so I couldn’t bring myself to buy one. Eventually I came to Terry Pratchett’s section. This is one of very few classic well-known authors whose work I haven’t chewed through years ago. I’ve actually only read one of his books, (Going Postal), but I liked it a great deal, so I grabbed another one, (Monstrous Regiment), and bought it. I then joined Calfgrit11 in the seats to wait for Tom Anglerberger to arrive.

Angleberger arrived on time, and the kids loved his show. He talked about his books, how he writes them, how he comes up with his characters, and he drew some. Then the book store took him to the signing table and everyone lined up to get their book(s) signed. Calfgrit11 and I found the book club teacher at this time and we ended up talking a bit while the line formed, so we ended up at the penultimate place in the line. That meant it was almost 9:00 by the time we got to the author’s table and got CG11’s books signed. (CG11 brought two Angleberger books from home to get signed with the latest one we bought that day.)

At the author’s table, while signing the books, Angleberger asked CG11 who his favorite Star Wars character is. “Boba Fett,” my son answered. I swelled with geeky pride and patted him on the back, “That’s my boy,” I said.

We got home well after 9:00, and we were both pretty tired. CG11’s bed time is usually 8:00, (and we have to wake him in the mornings after 7:00 to get ready for school), and large crowds just wear me out. (I could never do brogrit’s job :-)

All in all, meeting the author was cool. Tom Angleberger seems like a nice guy, and he’s pretty funny in person as well as in his writing.

Bullgrit

Bullgrit