Bode has been begging me to have lunch with him in the cafeteria for a few weeks. I don’t care how busy you are, when your sweet third grader is is proud enough to share you with his buddies, you go.

I adore these friends of his. He’s been lucky enough to have three of his besties–Nicky, Kyler and Curtis–in his class. They practically fell over themselves trying to impress me and hung onto my every word as if I was the funniest woman on earth. Too bad they’re only a few decades too young; why couldn’t boys have been so enamored by me when I was their age? Oh yeah. It was because I was too busy showing them up.

All these boys are obsessed with Four Square. I don’t wanna brag but I was a pretty ferocious Four Squarer in my youth so after lunch, I followed them to the playground where the showdown began.

Competition isn’t the same as an adult. As a kid, it’s raw, pure and exhilaration in its purest form as you feel like you can conquer the world.

At a church activity a couple of weeks ago, I played volleyball with a group of kids and some killer Bolivians. We’d played wallyball a few weeks prior and had a blast! We were fierce but kept it fun for the kids so I chuckled when my friend Jenny came up to me the next day at church and said her husband had asked who I was, saying “She’s really competitive.” Little did he know I was placing nice.

There were no niceties on that playground for Four Square. Pretty much every single boy from third grade was in on the action and these kids were incredibly good. Bode was one of the best. With a July birthday, he’s one of the youngest and smallest but he’s smart and fast. Plus, he’s always practicing at home.

I fueled a childhood’s worth of adrenaline into that game and came out on top over and over again, reigning in the Head Square many rounds over. Just think: being beaten by not only a girl, but a MOM! My friend Julie later told me how good her son Nicky said I was and that she wanted to watch next time I played.  The other kids weren’t nearly as impressed. The next day when I dropped Bode off in his class, I smack-talked ‘em all. The smiles were gone.

Me thinks it will be a while before they invite me back.

I apparently made a cardinal sin last week: I accidentally woke up Hadley. On her day off.

In my defense, the kids have had lots of days and half-days off and it’s tough to keep track of their schedules, particularly because they go to different schools. And so yes, out of habit, I woke Hadley up.

I thought she’d gotten over it but apparently Bode hadn’t because I found this gem on his door on one of his vacation days:

No school. Don’t wake me up if you do you will be sorry. -Bode

 

The fire-breathing dragon was a nice touch.

I can’t stand fundraisers. Of course, when most people get that “butter braid” handout, they don’t exactly leap for joy but Bode is sucked into the hype every single time. “But Mom, if I sell X amount of dollars, I’ll get my very own Frisbee!”

I’ll tell you what, Son. How about I just go buy you that Frisbee and then we don’t have to sell anything?

Usually, I’ll just write a check as donation but when money is tight, you don’t have that luxury. Bode has Cub Scout Twilight Camp this summer and we had the opportunity to defray the cost by selling camp cards with some awesome coupons for just $5 at our local grocery store. I reluctantly volunteered to take him and was delighted to discover my friend Dawn had signed her twin boys up as well.

We gave them the overview of what to say, how to present the camp cards and how to politely respond when people declined. Then, I hid in the shadows (like any bad fundraising mom would do) and reappeared when they closed the deal or needed additional help.

At first the boys were hesitant and sales were slow but something happened as they became my comfortable: Bode was one heck of a salesman! Bold. Confident. Kind. Cute. Irresistible. OK, that last adjective was my own but as the mother, he was pretty darn impressive.

Of course, most people walked by and kindly declined but that kid closed 30% of his sales and was completely fearless by the end.

When asked if they had fun, the boys enthusiastically responded “yes!” and didn’t even mind when people turned them down because they were all very nice about it.

“Look at it this way,” Dawn joked. “At least this rejection is preparing them for when they’re teenagers and start dating.”

Watch out, ladies.

I’d buy it from him

This morning, Bode and I were snuggling up in bed and conversation turned to the beautiful bluebird day. We’ve had a glorious dump of snow this week, which is torturous because I’ve had an annoying cold and haven’t been out to enjoy it. We commented on the sun’s critical role in warming the earth and I remembered a video that NASA released last week that is a 5-year time lapse of the sun.

I’m not one to get emotional about space but seeing explosions of fire brought tears to my eyes. 200 million images were spliced together into an unbelievable display of color and power. “A constant ballet of solar material moving through the sun’s atmosphere,” wrote NASA. Light, in every metaphorical sense, surrounds us, warms us, heals us.

Fascinated, this led Bode to study the black hole and watch a fascinating video showcasing solar flares and an additional ejection of solar material called a coronal mass ejection (CME), and some with complex moving structures in association with changes in magnetic field lines that loop up into the sun’s atmosphere, the corona. 

When I was his age, my Saturday mornings were spent watching Bugs Bunny.