The Scarecrow

My children create A LOT of artwork - both at school and at home.  I try to appreciate their scribbles as much as possible and when they create something especially artistic, I try to showcase it in our home.  Here is a scarecrow recently painted by Elliot during his Fall Party (the pc version of Halloween).

Pretty good for a five-year-old, don't you think?  Well, I did.  And as I was applying tape the scarecrow's back and preparing to display him on our front hall door, Elliot enlightened me with the scarecrow's gender.

ELLIOT:  "I drew a penis on my scarecrow."

ME:  "You did what?" (Not quite sure I heard him right)

ELLIOT:  "I drew a penis on my scarecrow so now you can know he's a boy.  See?"

Sure enough, there between the hay man's legs was a small but distinct male body part.  Thankfully, my son isn't into realistic-looking anatomy or I may have received a call from his teacher.  Regardless, we had a nice long talk about what you can and cannot draw on pictures.  And, for that matter, where your hands are and are not allowed to go when out in public. 

*sigh*  The joys of raising boys.

Slow Poke

Any mother will tell you that creativity is key to getting your children to do what you want them to do.  When getting Betsy into the car each morning, we have a race - I open Elliot's side of the car, she climbs in, walks to her side of the car and tries to get into her car seat before I am able to close the door, walk around the back of the car and open her door on the other side. 

She's quick and I am prone to distraction so, as it would happen, she wins our race every day.  One morning she was particularly proud of her speed and told me, "Mommy you're a slow poke and I'm a fast poke."  Sounds about right.

Mystery of the Universe # 3592

This, my friends, is the inside of my pant leg.  And that yellow band?  That is masking tape providing a new hem for my too-long pants.  Why do I have masking tape holding up my pants? 

The answer is simple:  1)  I am too short to wear pants directly off the rack, and 2)  I am too impatient to take them to a tailor and wait a week to be able to wear them, and 3)  I am too lazy to properly (i.e. with a sewing machine) hem them myself.

But, apparently, I am not too impatient or too lazy to carefully "hem" my pants before each wearing and "unhem" them before each washing.  And with 4 new pairs of pants in my closet, I am pretty much hemming (or unhemming) every day.