Easy as 1-2-3

The Alphabet

Last week, when I picked Sam up from school, I asked his teacher how his day went, as I do every day. She responded that he had a good day, and she does every day. But then she threw a zinger at me.

“I did have one question for you,” she said. “Does Sam know his letters and numbers?”

Sam’s three and a half. He’s been recognizing and pointing out the letters in his name when he sees them around, and I thought that was a pretty good development. Other than that, I hadn’t given it any thought.

Until that moment.

As I stumbled around for an answer, the teacher continued, “When I ask him, he doesn’t seem to know them, other than the letters in his name, and I wasn’t sure if he was just being silly or what. He’s so smart, I figured that he’d know them already. Does he know them when you work on them at home?”

When we, uh, work on them? At home?

CRAP.

Teaching him letters and numbers had not crossed my mind. (I can’t believe I am admitting that.)

The kid has known the entire St. Louis Cardinals line up since he was barely two, and he can recite Star Wars and/or Lord of the Rings characters or plot lines in his sleep.

He is smart. I really didn’t think I needed to teach him stuff.

Needless to say, after that conversation with his teacher, I immediately freaked out and determined I had ruined his academic future. As I drove home, I made a mental list of all the things I needed to google – methods, apps, flashcards, you name it – to get him back on track.

I broke the news that Sam was academically challenged to his dad gently when we got home. Andy said, “She wants him to know his letters and numbers? I’ll teach them to him by tomorrow.”

Then he broke out a pen and paper and started to drill Sam. I hadn’t even googled anything yet! He wasn’t even using the iPad! I was appalled.

Until I realized that Sam was indeed learning his letters and numbers right there on the spot.

So there, preschool teacher.

Anywho, this is a long and belabored way to get to the point – Andy’s old fashioned method actually did work, but I’m still on the look out for toys/videos/apps/games that will reinforce his letter/number knowledge.

So, readers, what worked for you and your kids? How can I get Sam back on the right academic track before he becomes a preschool slacker?

Post to Twitter

#FirstWorldProblems

Jenny and I have often said that our main goal for this blog is simple – we aim to crack each other up. And while we do find ourselves mildly amusing on here, our laugh-til-we-cry conversations generally happen on IM. (Which is why I think we need our own radio show, because together we are hilarious. So Oprah Radio, give us a call, k?)

Anyway.

One such IM conversation took place today, and while I don’t think Jenny so much as cracked a smile, I literally had tears rolling down my face – so, much to Jenny’s horror, I’m sharing our convo with you.

For background – yesterday Jenny randomly texted me with information (TMI, to be exact) regarding the lengths she was going to to cure a malady in her eye. I’ll let her tell y’all about that one. Let’s just say she must have been really sick of wearing glasses.

Which brings me to our chat today.

Emily says: yo
Jenny says: yodude
Emily says: what’s up?
Jenny says: getting ready for Joshua’s PT conference
Emily says: oh nice
Jenny says: whats up w/ you?
Emily says: um just trying to think of something to post
Jenny says: post about how my eye is not any better and I’m FREAKING OUT
Emily says: i don’t even know what’s wrong with your eye. take a picture, send it to me and i’ll write a post about it. for real
Jenny says: it’s like pink eye under my iris. I have been taking antibiotic dropsleft over from when Sophie had it, for like well thisis the third day but only once today so far and no better and I am SICK OF GLASSES. let me take a pic. eh i totally cant get a pictue
Emily says: use the xoom
Jenny says: i tried
Emily says: boo
Jenny says: i can’t see well enough w/out my glasses and i have to pull the botton of my eye down so you can see it. can’t do all that and get a pic! argh
Emily says: you have problems
Jenny says: ooh i just had joshua help me and I got it. but it is SO unattractive I would never ever let it be publisehd!
Emily says: SEND IT TO ME
Jenny says: emily, it’sthe ugliest thing ever, i would rather have another swimsuit photo
Emily says: which means it will make the post funny
Jenny says: my nose looks like Blossom’s it’s so close range
Emily says: SEND IT, Amy Farrah Fowler
Jenny says: FINE. as Sophie would say. but you OWE ME
Emily says: omg I am dying laughing already and i haven’t even seen it
Jenny says: seriously, just crop my eye. also i look like i have a moustache. good lighting

Emily says: omg i am about to choke to death on an orange
Jenny says: grrreeeeeeeeat. well, I am goig to be very relaxed in joshua’s conference while my mugshot hits the net
Emily says: stop, i am going to hyperventilate
Jenny says: well i am glad to entertain you. meanwhile I am in a panic about how to get my eye better so I can wear contacts and mascara again. oh geez that was quotable
Emily says: oh this whole conversation is quotable
Jenny says: seriously, though doesnt it seem like if you give your kids antibiotic drops they get better like instantly?
Emily says: yes but did it occur to you that you are using medication prescribed to treat what sophie had but not necessarily what you have?
Jenny says: yes but its just pink eye!
Emily says:how do you know?
Jenny says:because i’ve GOOGLED
Emily says: Maybe it’s… I don’t know.
Jenny says: duh. geez. and it’s only in one spot. it’s weird
Emily says: well you certainly cured my writer’s block.
Jenny says: arrgh yw
Emily says: maybe you busted a blood vessel
Jenny says: i will probably have to drag my ass to the dr.
Emily says: your eye isn’t goopy
Jenny says: well it looks thick like pink eye does
Emily says: what do you mean, thick?
Jenny says: like the cornea just looks thicker where it’s red. that’s what it looked like last time Joshua had it, which was in the spring sometime. his wasn’t goopy either. so this looks like tht to me. but of course, I am not a dr. ok my mom is here and I have to fly out the door! love you. don’t make me not love you anymore
Emily says: you’ll always love me
*****
The end.

Ok perhaps something was lost in the translation, but it was hilarious. HILARIOUS, I tell you. It’s not that I don’t take her and her little eye issue seriously, it’s just that… Well, ok. I don’t take it very seriously. Jenny tends to overreact, you know. She’s not calm and rational like I am.

I mean, Sam had an eye thing the other day, and did I freak out?

Hmm… now that you mention it, I did. That picture up there? I put it on Facebook. And tweeted it. And googled it. And what do you know, the interwebz diagnosed him with a stye and/or cellulitis. Which I then googled and found pictures like this.

And also discovered that cellulitis can result in anything from a MRSA or staph infection to meningitis. (Or it could be treated by 10-days of antibiotics and be gone within 48 hours. But at the time I thought the likelihood of those other things was much higher.)

So perhaps Jenny is right in flipping out about her antibiotic-resistant self-diagnosed pink eye.

We wouldn’t want her to end up looking like this.

P. S. Jenny did not confirm the fact that she’ll always love me. However, I know she will because she does not want to be responsible for this blog all by herself.

Post to Twitter

You could deep fry this fork and I’d eat it.

The title of this post is a direct quote from my friend Gina, said years ago as we enjoyed some sort of breaded delicacy in our university dining hall. Apparently, though, she is not alone (nor was she then – I know we all nodded our heads in agreement at the time) because at our local festival last weekend, forks seemed to be the only things that weren’t deep fried.

Case in point:

Yes, that’s deep fried oreos, deep fried snickers, deep fried twinkies and deep fried buckeyes.

At this (extremely small) festival, in addition to the regular fried stuff – corn dogs, chicken strips, Texas tenderloins, french fries, etc. – and the random stuff in the picture above, I saw deep fried pickles (ok I had some of those and they were delicious), deep fried bananas and deep fried apples. The latter two could be ordered “deluxe” and topped with ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate and caramel sauce, nuts and a cherry.

Obesity crisis? Nah.

(Who am I kidding, the apples with all that junk on them looked freaking amazing.)

What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen deep fried? And fess up – did you try it?

Post to Twitter