Don't Forget!

Yesterday BB had a swim party that he was excited about going to. It was a combined youth activity at a home about 10 minutes from us. He was so excited about going that he got a little OCD about it.

He got up yesterday morning and reminded me that he had a party tonight. I told him that I remembered. He got ready to go swimming with the family in the morning and reminded me that he had a swim party to go to tonight. I reminded him that I already knew about the party and that we would get him there for it. We got in the car on the way to the neighborhood pool and he reminded me again. Feeling a little exasperated with all the reminders, I told him a little crankily that I knew he had a party and I would really appreciate him not reminding me about it anymore since it was only 10:00 am and the party was that evening.

We swam for a couple of hours in the intense heat! At 1:00 we finally had to admit defeat to the high temperatures and go home to the air conditioning.

BB comes to me and reminds me about his party that night. I assure him that it is only 2:00 and he will be going.

BB comes to me and reminds me that the party starts at 7:00 pm. I tell him that we will get him there on time as it is only 2:05 pm.

BB comes to me and asks if I know where the pool is. I assure him that I know where the pool is and it only takes about 10 minutes to get there. I, again, assure him that we have plenty of time since it is only 2:10 pm.

BB sends YaYa to let me know that he wants her to let him know when it is 6:30 pm so he will not miss his party. I assure her that she has plenty of time and that we will get BB to his party since it is only 2:15 pm.

My entire afternoon was spent reassuring BB that he was going to get to go to this party! Do you think he was excited about it?

Guess what? BB got to go to his party and he was there on time!

Good Lips......

I really love my little BooBoo. He makes me laugh and fills my heart with love. On Monday he wanted to spend the night with me and play with my kids. I love having him around and couldn't say no to him. Even though it was a school night for all I decided to let him stay with me. He did great.....until bedtime. He couldn't make up his mind who he wanted to sleep with...YaYa or BB.....but wait.....Mimi! I think he just assumed that I would be up the latest and he could stay up longer if he chose me.
Well, he was right on the money. He could not settle down and he wanted to watch the news with me to see LiLi. She was chosen to ring the bell at school for the Governor. He visited their school that day. There were news cameras all around. Too bad we couldn't find the news station that carried the story.
When I wake up BooBoo to go to school the next morning he is just a little bit sleepy and doesn't want to get out of bed and get moving. He is soon persuaded because he wants to go with me to drop my kids off at their school.
After I drop off my kids I head to BooBoo's house. He has a mini GPS system in his little brain and always knows where he is and where anyone is going. He quickly determines that we are headed to his house and tells me that he is not ready to go home. We go back and forth for a while until he asks why I have to take him home. I say "Because...". He comes back with "Mimi, that is a wrong answer." (Apparently he likes to say because as an answer to his mom a lot and she tells him its the wrong answer.)
I promise him that I am staying at his house for a little while and he calms down. When we get to his house his Dad is about to leave for the day. He runs over to give his dad a kiss and a hug and then excitedly turns to me and says: " Mimi, come kiss my dad! He has good lips!"
How do you explain to a 4 year old that Mimi's don't kiss other peoples dads?
I just love my Boo!

What ever happened to the Abacus?

My three children started school last week and the rush was on to get all the needed school supplies. BB, my 13 yr old son, brought his match class supply list to me and I almost fainted! He needed to buy a super max, way too technical calculator. They range in price from $99 to $200. Has math really gotten that technical that we can't work without a mini computer in our backpack?

I thought about the needed item for a couple of days. I even went to the store twice to purchase it, but I just could not make myself do it! What happened to the days when you counted beads on an abacus? Or on your fingers? Or, dare I say, used scratch paper? Okay, maybe not scratch paper so I can help save a few more trees.

I realized I had no choice but to buy the little super duper handy dandy calculator. I brought it home to BB and helped him get the batteries in. It only takes about 400 batteries to run the darn thing (okay, maybe 4 batteries, but still.....). I showed him how to turn it on and after much practice I figured out how to turn it off. This is the point that he tells me he already knew how to do all this. Then he proceeds to tell me that you can text people on it, download games, and even brainwash teachers.....(he really didn't say the brainwash teachers but I want everyone to feel my emotion).

I have never felt so old and dusty in my life! Call me crazy, but how is texting or game playing going to help solve all those math equations? Again, the abacus may be a little outdated but it sure did the trick.

You can probably imagine all the alarm bells going off in my head when BB recounts all the million and one things this super machine can do.

• Is a 13yr old boy responsible enough for such a costly item? He tells me his Nintendo DS costs about the same and he has kept up with it....mostly. I have to remind him that the first week he had it, he took it outside and then laid it on the hood of his Dad's truck. He forgot to get it off before his Dad left at his usual speed of 90 to nothing. I spent 30 minutes going up and down the roadside looking for it!
• Can this same 13 yr old really figure out how to use it properly? Well, duh!!!!! He did show me how to turn it off when I tried this little task for at least 15 minutes.
• Is he going to text and play games on it so much that the batteries will need constant replacement? I wonder if 400 batteries every other day is really eco friendly?

I really start to chastise myself at this point. After all he is 13 yrs old, and as my sister keeps telling me, I need to loosen up with him a little. I need to let him experience a little freedom so he can learn to make good choices. (This is easy for her to say. Her daughter is 26 and as near perfect as you can get. Her son is 4 and she can exert all the control on him she wants. I think I will have to pull this post out for her to read in about 9 years.)

As I am taking the kids to school, I go over all the rules about the super max computer thingy with BB. (He says I went into my "wa wa wa wa wa wa" mode. I think he means I keep repeating myself and he stops hearing words and instead hears "wa wa wa wa wa wa".) I remind him several times to use the top secret computer only for his way too complicated math class and not to text anyone or play games. His reply is "Mimi, just trust me. I won't do anything I'm not supposed to do."

Now, lets fast forward to pick up time after school.....I ask all the kids how their day was. I get various replies but notice BB isn't saying much. I zero in on him. I ask him how things were going for him.

Mimi: Did you get to use that top secret machine in math class today?

BB: Yes, but the batteries that we put in must not be very good because they are already dead.

Mimi:Hmmmmm.(I actually thought this) Did you do a lot of texting today?

BB:No. I didn't text on it at all.

Mimi:Did you play any games on it today?

BB:(in a much quieter voice) Yes, but only in my free time.

Mimi: (in a much louder voice) What do you mean you played a game on it? Didn't I just talk to you this morning about not playing games on it? Didn't we agree that you were only going to use it to solve math problems? Why would you do this? Now you don't have batteries for your super machine so how are you going to solve all those math problems?

BB:Easy. I'll just stick them in the recharger.

Mimi: They aren't rechargeable. Didn't you pay any attention to what we talked about this morning?

BB: Yes, maam. I just saw everyone else playing games on theirs and this kid let me download some games onto mine.

Mimi: (going into orbit now) You did what? You downloaded something on the super max? That's how viruses get spread. What happens if you get a virus and your super max dies? Also, that tells me that you had plenty of time to think this through if you downloaded and then played games. When did you play these games? In your classes?

BB: Yes, maam. But it was during free time.

Mimi: What type of free time?

BB: In my science class during the teachers power point discussion.

Mimi: How is this free time?

BB: It was boring, so I just looked at the highlighted words and played my game during the rest of it.

I could go on and on (I actually did with him. He calls it nagging. I call it lengthy discussions.) with all the dialogue but BB says it really gets harder to listen to when I just keep repeating the same things over and over. I did tell him that I thought it would be very difficult to edit a power point display while playing a game. I have seen him with is Wii and his Nintendo. I doubt that he edited anything. At this point I really didn't want to hear anymore about what other classes he did this in. I am just glad that he didn't get caught. Now I have to come up with a way to let him use his calculator but not let it get him in trouble.

I've gotta tell ya, I really blame Texas Instrument for all the wrong in the world! Didn't they think this through when they were designing this super machine? Surely the knew that the teenagers wouldn't be able to resist the lures of texts and games and every other non math item these little jewels contained. What were they thinking????? Don't any of them have kids? Are they trying to compete with the Gameboys?

Again, I want to know.....What is wrong with the Abacus? I bet BB wouldn't try and use it improperly!