The "S" word

Not too long ago, Bookworm(9) was really grouchy and driving me crazy. I finally found out that she had been having some problems with her friends at school and that's why she was in such a bad mood. She told me how they had been having a conversation about some boys in her class and that one of them had used the "h" word. She didn't know what that meant and they wouldn't tell her so she felt left out of the conversation and she also felt kind of dumb. So, she asked me to tell her all the bad words as a remedy to her problem. My first reaction was to refuse but then I decided that she probably did need to know what the "bad" words are to be able to avoid then. I wrote down a little list because I don't like to say them out loud (I know, I'm such a baby) and then explained what they meant. She was so happy to finally "be in the know." We threw the paper away and that was that.

Fast-forward to today. She came up to me and said, "You know the 's' word that means poop? Well, in science class, Mr. L was talking about how scientists can tell what people a long time ago ate by looking through their human waste--I don't like to say poop. And he called it the 's' word."
Now you can imagine that I'm starting to get a little upset thinking that the science teacher said the "s" word to a class of 4th graders. So I said, "Really?! He said..." and I spelled it out.
She looked at me blankly and I realized there must be a mistake. I said, "Do you mean that he said 'scat'?"
"Oh yeah, that's what he said."
"Scat isn't a bad word."
"Oh. Okay."
Maybe we need to have a review lesson on bad words every few weeks.

Halloween candy follow-up

We decided to let the kids go ahead and just eat their own candy. By Saturday night, we remembered the real reason for putting the candy in the community bowl--OrphanAnnie's(7) candy was almost gone. She had originally had at least 100 pieces of candy. I hate to even think about how much sugar she had that day. Bookworm's(9) candy was almost gone by Sunday night. Thank goodness, Littleman(5) has a little self control--he still has quite a bit left. I don't know how to teach self control but I think my girls need some lessons.

Dinner Conversation

Tonight for dinner I made some hamburgers. It was a thrown together kind of meal so I didn't even have tomato and lettuce. We were also almost out of pickles. This is very bad in our house since LittleMan(5) doesn't like the "brown stuff" on his hamburger, so his "hamburger" consists of a bun, ketchup, mustard, pickles, and--at least for tonight--A1 sauce. Without pickles there is no nutrional content in his dinner. ;) So as we were digging out the last few pickle slices from the jar I said, "I better put pickles on my shopping list." (This implies that I actually am organized and have a shopping list, which I don't.) Bookworm(8) said, "Tomatoes and lettuce, too." I said, "Yeah, but tomatoes and lettuce are a little different than pickles because they go bad." OrphanAnnie(7) said, "You need those green bags that keep food fresh for a long time." Bookworm(8) piped in, "Yeah, just 2 payments of $19.95."

My kids don't watch too much TV.

May I introduce my family?

I've had a hard time knowing how much information I should put out into the blogosphere for anyone to view. I know it is mostly family and friends that visit me here but who knows if there are crazies out there, too, who might happen upon this blog. I have one blog friend who, for various reasons, is very careful about saying anything that could identify her or her family. I have seen other blogs that give out so much information that anyone who can use a phone book or computer could find them in 30 seconds. And that's probably fine but I don't feel completely comfortable with that. I also know people who have private blogs, but I'd rather keep mine public because it's fun and I've made a few friends that way.


I've decided that I am going to err on the side of caution and I won't identify my family by their real names. So, let me introduce them to you. My husband will heretofore be known as Mr. Dad. My kids are: Bookworm(8)-girl, OrphanAnnie(7)-girl, Littleman(5)-boy, and Destructo(2)-boy. And here we are all together: