It's Been Awhile

Oh my.  It's been a long time.  I kind of lost steam, I guess!  We've been busy with work and life and our arch-nemesis...soccer (I will post on that later.  It will be a long one).

Here is a short one.  Just to get my feet wet.

As you may have gathered from previous posts. William is the ultimate consumer.  He is the anti-Lloyd Dobler.  He wants to buy anything sold or processed.

Last night was the last soccer game of the season (again, more on that later) and the thing that he was most excited about was the post-game "banquet" at McDonald's.  Because they have spy toys.  Which are for boys or girls.

Each of the three boys got a different spy toy and spent most of the banquet comparing spy tools and pretending to be spies.  Very much incognito in their bright yellow matching soccer uniforms.  Go Lightning!  (The two girls opted for the Barbie prize even though each could've gotten the gender-neutral spy toys).

William's toy was a spy locker (???).  You line up the two knobs so that the groove in each one is facing the correct direction and it opens.  Inside are...TWO SPY CARDS!  One with "Agent Alpha" and the other with "Agent Omega." William was impressed.  He even made up a game where two opponents each grab a card, showing only the back to the other.  Then, on his signal they lay them down on the table.  And that's it.

So, anyway.  He was so enamored of his new special prize that he wanted to bring it to school today. I told him that it was okay, but then in a moment of clarity asked if it was allowed. (I pretty much know it's not, but sometimes they're lax on their own rules).  And this is what followed:

It's okay.  I'll just hide it from Ms. Trisha.

No, William.  That's not how we roll.  We follow the rules. (I then remember that there have been exceptions and I have to explain why we have those exceptions because he WILL call me on it).  So I continue...

The only time you are allowed to bring toys to school is when Gaga is picking you up to spend the night because then I have to pack your things for the night. But, we leave them in your cubby.

Pause. Do you think that Gaga can pick me up and let me spend the night tonight?

Dude, you are not bringing your spy toy to school. But, the concession is always "you can bring it in the car, but when you get to school you have to leave it IN the car."  This is surprisingly effective.

When I pick him up in the afternoon, he asked his lead teacher, Ms. Kim, if she wanted to see his new spy toy.  Yes, he is still that excited about a McDonald's prize.  Which would mean that I would have to drag he and Henry to the car to get it and then come back in and show it to Ms. Kim.  So, I suggested that I cold bring it in with me tomorrow and show it to her.  He was not that easily swayed.

Ms. Kim, do you live very far away from here? (Because a good alternative would be to drive to her house and show it to her??)

I live a little bit far away, William. It takes me about twenty minutes to drive here.

Well, I know you don't live in China, because you don't speak Chinese. 

Because you can TOTALLY get to China in about twenty minutes.  Give or take.