Kids Can Be SO Mean

Kids can be so mean. So very mean.

Especially siblings to each other.

And I was reminded of this when a friend was lamenting the fact that his one daughter made his other daughter cry because "she smelled like bacon." And I assume that the one daughter believed that she smelled like bacon. (But...really. Tell her that there could be much worse things to smell like!)

That made me think about when my sister and I were growing up and she told me that I was adopted. And she kept repeating it. Over and over.

And I believed her and was traumatized for days. :/ How could I have been so gullible as to believe her? I suppose the same way my friend's daughter believed she smelled like bacon. lol.

By the way...did I mention that my sister and I are identical twins? :p

Such Sweet Girls!

Okay, Susan. I realize that there is "probably" some payback to be had for what my kids have taught Sheldon. And by "probably," I mean that there is payback to be had. So I understand. They're not angels but any definition.

But, really. This payback was going a little far. Although, it will be GREAT blackmail for the future. Such sweet girls. LOL.



The BEST part of this is that Susan put it up on Facebook for the entire world to see.

But I guess it's no worse than me putting it up on my blog for the rest of the world to see. :p

What Could Have Happened

In case you haven't figured out yet, the boys and I are staying in a motel in Williamsburg. In the middle of the night the other night, I heard a loud bang which I thought was someone slamming the door next to us really loud.

When I got up in the morning, our door was open slightly...only held shut by the bolt on top.

Apparently the loud bang that I heard in the middle of the night was someone trying to get into our room. Not slamming a door close to us. I shudder to think what would have happened if I had not of had the bolt across the door.

Thank God I'm anal about locking the doors and bolts.

Personality Traits

Even kids have their own personalities. And sometimes you see them do something that just solidifies what you have pegged as their personality. Like adults, they can not help it. It's just who they are.

Take Shane for example. He's very analytical. Very scientific minded and very fact based. It's just the way he is. Sure he likes a good dry joke (he is related to Ken's grandpa after all) but for the most part he's all about the facts. It helps him solve things...particularly with math and games.

If he's playing you in a game, his empathetic side will want to let you win the game because he feels bad for you. But if you give him the rules of the game, you will never win because he will hold you to the rules and will call you out when you don't play by them. And you only have to tell him the rules once.

It's just his fact-based way of looking at things. So when we were in the pool last night, he was playing water polo with some older boys. And one of the boys made a comment that he didn't like to swim in deep water and wouldn't go into the 9 feet part because it was "like two of him."

Shane looked at him (as serious as he could be) and said "oh...you must be 4 1/2 feet tall then."

Dead pan silence from the boy.

He looked at Shane like he had two heads and asked Shane to repeat himself. So Shane did.

Again as serious as he could be.

I then had to explain to Shane that the kid was just making a joke because he didn't like the deep water and he was in fact about 5'7". (I didn't bother explaining to the kid that Shane was right and 4 1/2 + 4 1/2 = 9.)

In Shane's defense, he never saw the kid out of the water and didn't really know how tall he was. Okay. Lame defense I know.

It was that moment that I realized that:

1) Shane really is geeky (and I mean that in the nicest way possible) and a little different than most kids; and

2) that he did get some of my personality traits because that sounds exactly like something I would say.

Can't you see it, Ken? :p

Williamsburg!

As a parent, you want your kids to excel in whatever interests them and seeing that Shane has had a terrible time adjusting to school every year, I decided that he needed to participate in something academic this summer. Something that would keep him academically engaged and would help him to remain confident in his school work next school year.

So I started looking around and found a program run by the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA and I signed him up for two classes. The first class is called "Fairy Tales on Trial" where the kids learn about courtroom trials and are able to play out the roles of the judge, jury or attorney.

He should excel as a defense attorney!

The afternoon class is called "Project SALUTE" and is a space exploration program where the kids learn about space and designing rocket ships. "Geeky" stuff that I could NEVER understand.

We only had a few glitches in the plan so far but the campus is beautiful. I'd forgotten how large college campuses can be so it's been a little hectic trying to figure out where to get him to class. Especially since the two classes are at the opposite ends of the campus. :/

If you want to read about the course, go to the link below.

http://www.cfge.wm.edu/forms/SEP%20SUM%2009.pdf

Hopefully he'll have a great experience. I wish that all kids could attend classes like this. It's a great opportunity for him. I hope he has fun. Owen and I will. We're planning on going to Busch Gardens during the day while he's in class. :)