I’ve been sounding a lot like my Dad lately. One of his favorite phrases was

You’ve got to ask yourself “Should I, or shouldn’t I ?”

And that was long before Clint Eastwood’s whole “do you feel lucky, punk?”, so there was no hint of campiness when he gave us that line, along with the Dad face that leaves no question in your mind: ‘… uh-ohh, I shouldn’t have …’

I’ve been trying to get that concept across to our um… free-spirited middle child. I think she’s starting to get the idea. She left herself a note on the fridge…

Olivizzy gots tha question fo’ all y’all

“That Buford’s a sly one – already knows his ABC’s” – Glen, Raising Arizona

I am all for literacy. I’m OK with whatever it takes to help teach my children the various symbols and combinations of symbols that represent our written language. I was really excited to watch my three year old interact with the alphabet Fridge Magnets.

They’re great for teaching little ones to recognize the various letters. And this particular package allows the toddler to put the letter into the electronic frame and hear a little song that includes the pronunication of the letter name, and the sounds the letter can make. “B says buh, B says buh, every letter makes a sound and B says buh”

The older kids group them into words, often with creative and parent-pleasing effect. But there are only so many words that a six year old can put together when faced with only one copy of each letter. No “BALL”. No “DOLL”. No “DAD”, “MOM”, or “COOL”. But you can get “LOVE”, and “HUG”, and “NICE”.

And:

Never let it be said that we stifle creativity.

Ellie captured all our sentiments with this poem:

Verbatim text:

Augut first 2006

Today is so hot
I feel like I’m being boild in a pot
I’d rather siwm in a pool
Then stay out hear and not be cool
So ask me what I want to do and all say…
TAKE ME TO THE POOL !!!