Tales from the mini-van

It seems like we will go for weeks without a funny story. Then all of a sudden, there's material everywhere. The mini-van commute from place to place seems to be the most fertile ground. Of course, I seem to get the best quotes out of Lastborn when he is alone with me. That doesn't happen often now that he is in full time school.

So, today on the trek from his karate class to the church to pick up firstborn for CCD, we had occasion to discuss the reason why he had been dismissed early from Karate. It seems he and T had decided not to wait for their turn to spar and instead to just form a "ring" on the sidelines and begin their own match. Knowing this is not the greatest idea, I called his name. Now earlier that day, I had asked his teacher to please dismiss him if he misbehaved in any way because we are somewhat sick of paying big money to watch our child lie down on the floor or run around the room screaming. On hearing me call his name, she dismissed Lastborn and T. I felt a bit bad for Lastborn as it had been all T's idea. This time. And they had never been told clearly that they couldn't start their own match.

So I was explaining to Lastborn why it was not a good idea to spar when it wasn't his turn. I was also explaining that it didn't matter if the whole thing was T's idea. He had to think before he did what other kids suggested.

"I guess I'm just gullible," he said.

I couldn't help but laugh. He really knows what that word means. He got it from the Amanda show. Most of his good lines are quotes from TV shows. That still doesn't diminish their humor. It's all in the timing and this kid has timing of the Swiss variety.

Later, he was telling Firstborn about the experience.

"I don't know," he said. "It just came out of my head like a giant monster!"
"What came out of your head like a giant monster?" I asked.
"The idea of fighting with T."

I'm sure he got that from a TV show somewhere too, but to apply it to the idea of sparring with T. That's just too much.