Don't Cry Wolf

First of all, we grilled turkey the other night. It was good, it was very good. My favorite part? Walking into the kitchen to find Sam taking pictures of the meat on the grill! I took a picture with my cell phone. He rocks!


Guess what else rocked? The other morning I was getting ready for the day and Sam said "I just locked the keys in your mom's car....and the car is running!". We had borrowed my mom's car and Sam was driving it to work. Oh my goodness, I was laughing so hard! He had to drive the van over to my parent's house, get a spare key, and then come back. Just before he left for work I said "I'm so sorry about all this, I bet you were so frustrated!" Sam's reply: Nah, it just shakes up the day.

You know what else shakes up the day?

You know the story, right? Don't cry wolf because when you are telling the truth I may not believe you....

Let me set the scene for you.

Carson has a habit of day dreaming in school. Heck, he day dreams 24/7! The child is smart, just not smart enough to know when to quit dreaming and get to work. We've struggled throughout his elementary school career on the same thing: Get your work done in class! Please don't bring blank work home that you could have finished in school! With each year this gets harder because not only is he bringing home unfinished work, he is also bringing home actual homework. It's not uncommon for us to spend 3 hours a day on homework. I think that is typical for High School, but Carson is in 3rd grade for pete's sake!

So, Monday afternoon he comes home with several blank math worksheets PLUS (big bonus) a sealed envelope from his teacher, to me. As I'm eye-balling the unfinished work, I'm pretty sure this is not a good thing.

I braced myself, took a cleansing breath, and then opened the letter. The opening line said something like "I just don't know what to do with Carson...." and then she detailed the day of him sitting at his desk, doing nothing but stare into his desk.

I read it to Carson and then he sat down and did one of the worksheets. After he finshed one worksheet (and we still had 4 to go, PLUS actual homework) I decided to switch gears and do spelling. For spelling, he has to write each word 3 times in cursive.

By now Carson is moaning about a stomach ache. Whatebs, as I give him the next word.

Then Carson belches and I am not kidding, it smelled like a fart! He kept moaning and putting his head on the counter top. I said "you finish your spelling and you can lay down for a few minutes" and then I'd give him the next word. I gotta give the poor guy credit, he kept writing the words I gave him as the belching got worse and worse. I finally had to look up his condition on the computer, while loudly giving him the next word on his list! A quick Google search brought me to the condition "Sulfer Burps". I think it's like a food poisoning stomach issue. Gross.

By now Sam comes home and he about drops dead from the smell, he conveniently took Parker and Cameron out to the backyard.

We were on our last word, Carson kept moaning, and then suddenly....he ran to the bathroom where he promptly puked all over the place! I'm not kidding, it was straight out of my nightmares.

Huh, I guess he was telling the truth about not feeling good. Next time I'll try to believe him a little sooner. After he finished up he went to bed and stayed there until this morning. One more puking episode later last night and then he was cured.

I then had the privilege of writing his teacher back today and explaining that we did not get the work done she sent home because Carson was sick all night. I wasn't making excuses for him, but it was the honest to goodness truth. Had he not puked I would have still made him finish all the work even though he was moaning. He's got to learn at some point...at least that's what I keep telling myself.

Needless to say, tonight's homework lasted from about 3:45pm to almost 8pm. Thank goodness for Sam and his never ending patience. I left the two of them here working on it while I went grocery shopping! Here's to a great tomorrow!