Stories From A Life Gone Crazy: The Questions and other ways I get information

I am in the habit of letting the car be my zone out place. I turn on the radio and just drive in silence or maybe poorly sing along to a song. One reason for this is that my hearing is really very bad- no joke I really should get it tested and get a hearing aid, it is on my to do list- so talking to the kids in the back of the van is almost impossible. Another reason is that poor Jack has inherited my awful hearing. When we talk in the car it goes a lot like this:

Me: "Jack, so what do you think the weather will be like tomorrow for your field trip?" Jack: "What?" Me: "The weather for your field trip-- do you think it will be nice?"

Jack: "What?" Me: "The weather?" Jack: words I can't hear Me: "Huh?" Jack: "What?" Me: "Oh never mind."

Now if he starts the conversation imagine me with all the whats and huhs. It is frustrating. Finally, I am not great at the conversation thing in general. Pete is good at it. He can just come up with a topic and talk and talk about it and engage the kids. Me, not so much. So a few months ago I came up with The Questions. As soon as I pick Jack up from school I ask him these questions. 1. What was the best part of your day? 2. What was the worst part of your day? 3. What is one thing that you wish you could redo? 4. What is the craziest thing that happened today? Sometimes I throw in other ones like 5. Who was the nicest to you? 6. Who were you the nicest to? 7. Who was the meanest to you? 8. Who were you the meanest to? I get to find out more than if I just asked- How was your day? I learn a lot about the kids in his class and how he interacts with them. Now how do I hear him? Sometimes I don't. There is a lot of yelling. A lot of waiting until the car is stopped at a red light. However, since he knows the questions I ask he can sort of pick out a few words and know what I am asking, and since I know what question I asked I can kind of fill in the blanks if I miss certain words in his answer.

The car gets me certain information, but I get a lot of knowledge about his life because I read to him at night. He gets a bit chatty at night. I learned a friend of his told him that Pokemon were baby. Jack really enjoys Pokemon, he even brings stuffed Pokemon toys to school. A lot of kids in his class bring dolls or stuffed animals to play with at recess. Jack has invented Pokemon tag which is sort of like freeze tag but people are holding Pokemon plushes. (I think). However, the day after telling me that this friend called Pokemon baby Jack did not bring his Pokemon to school. He took them out of his backpack and instead brought a football. It made me so sad. Peer Pressure. Grr. I attempted to tell him not everyone is interested in the same things and he shouldn't stop enjoying things just because someone else doesn't like it, if you like it that is what matters. Alas, I do not think I am very good at motivational speaking. This combined with a few other things lead to the talk about what a friend is and what a friend isn't. A friend doesn't tell you to miss words on your spelling test, a friend doesn't threaten to and then actually kick you in the balls whether you spell the words correctly or not, a friend isn't mean, a friend isn't hurtful, a friend doesn't try to make your other friends sad, a friend doesn't say obscene things even after you tell him you don't like it, and etc. So I guess it was more of a what a friend isn't talk.

It is probably good the summer break is fast approaching. It will give him time away from this friend. However, it will mean that I have to find ways to entertain him. Argh!!!!! I feel like I will be saying-- go outside and entertain yourself-- quite a lot.

In other Weigel family updates-- Meg is a rolling machine and is even beginning to scoot. She gets her butt way up in the air and then kicks her legs some to move forward. It isn't very graceful but she is starting to get around. Thomas is in a phase where he wears his pajamas practically all day and he changes into all of his pajamas at some point during the day. He will even wear all his pajamas/clothes at the same time. Luke still likes to draw, play play dough, he loves Superman and all DC comic guys, and he is still a very tactile person. Pete told me I had to stop saying that Luke was a sensual person and start saying tactile. Fine. He likes to touch, kiss, hug, and get right in Meg's face. However, when he keeps his distance she really loves it when he gets her to say goo. He is very patient with her too, so she ends up talking to him and smiling a lot--which he loves.

Picture time.