Newest mad moments

Sigh, it is really too early in the morning for this. I just clicked to the fact that our clock in the bedroom is set 1/2 an hour early. That means when we get up at '4 am' we are really getting up at 3:30! No wonder the coffee pot hasn't turned on yet...

Anyway, though I am wiped out and want nothing more than to return to bed and sleep, I figure I should use this quiet time to get something written here, there having been so many things that have happened recently.

First, a Xander story: I was talking with Tom the other night about having mercifully repressed the deaths of some of my animal friends. Xander, who listens even when you think he is not, suddenly piped up:
'When I was this (holding fingers barely a pinch apart) big, I had a pet that died.'
We looked at him, as deer look into headlights. 'Hmmm?'
'Yes. My pet cucumber.'
'What?!' with a choke.
' My Pet cucumber' he explained, 'She was a dog, and she liked cats and children. But...' he trailed off sadly, 'she died of alamonia.'
So now, I was caught. 'Alamonia'
'Yeah' he said 'Like in Hank'
(He is referring here to the 'Hank the Cowdog' series of books)
'Ah,' I said, light dawning, 'you mean Pneumonia!'
Tom, who had been listening to this interplay, couldn't resist 'What is so New about it? Its
been around for centuries!'
Xander looked from Tom to me, waiting an explanation.
I threw Tom a stifling glare and said 'Pneumonia is the illness, love. Alimony is something
else entirely.'
Xander, who can be VERY interested in words, decided not to pursue this particular line of thought, thank heavens and instead decided to expand on his 'Pet Cucumber' stories.

Flash forward: I take Jason to baseball practice. When we get home, Tom informs me that he and Xander had had a conversation about his ex-dog and that the dog's name was actually 'cucumber' but Xander called her 'Pet Cucumber' for short....
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In other news, Jason has decided to start writing poetry, again. There is a poetry contest through the local library system. People submit poems, they are judged and then, in May, there is a 'Poetry Coffee House' where people come and read their poetry to an audience. So now we are going to have a mini unit on poetry for the next week -- with lots of readings of poetry -- and Jason is going to keep a poetry notebook. When he has a satisfactory collection, he will select from amongst it and we will submit it. Should be an interesting process. Thank heavens for the electric typewriter. It makes it much easier for Jason to write.

There is also a book writing contest called 'Written and Illustrated by...' We have read a few of the books from the series and, in fact, one of Jason and Xander's favorite authors, Dav Pilkey, was one of the early winners. So I guess we are submitting for that as well!

All this writing and creative output comes on top of all of Jason's other activities: He is playing Little League (with me as coach), he is taking Tae Kwon Doe two days a week, he is in Tiger scouts every Tuesday, Swimming TTH, we have Earth Scouts once a month and Legos club twice a month. Man, I am getting exhausted just thinking about it all.