Barbeque Is A Foreign Word
2007-05-11, 15:38

How proud am I of The Boy? Very. He has, this week, experienced The System in action, and in a positive way, no less!

Last Friday, he participated in a spelling bee at school. It was divided by grade, so he was up against others at his age level. Apparently he didn't win, but managed to get 2nd runner up - certainly a good showing. So over dinner, we asked him what the word was that got him kicked off the island. He said, "Barbeque." naturally, we asked him how he spelled it, so he said, "B, A, R, B, E, Q, U, E."

H and I paused for a moment, and she said, "Isn't that... right?" The Boy replied, "They said it was C U E, not Q U E."

H was immediately skeptical and she grabbed the encyclopedic dictionary off the shelf nearby. (Yes, we have a two-volume encyclopedic dictionary within easy reach. We're nerdy that way.) And after looking it up both ways, she found that both are correct. The Boy was rather miffed - or at least as miffed as he's ever managed to get in our presence - and, after some encouragement, decided he was going to take the dang dictionary with him to school the next day and present his case to the teacher/spelling bee judge.

And he did just that. He presented his case, and the teacher actually called up a rematch between the top three contestants! He moved up to the top two, and, after 15 minutes of def word battle, they called it a draw. Co-winner! And after a call to the state group that set up the event, the school is going to send both of them to the finals. Finals! At the State Fair in Columbus! How awesome is that - he took the time to Fight for His Right to Spell, and ended up with a ticket to the state capital. Or at least to the State Fair. And no matter how he does at the finals in August (thankfully Not during our planned vacation time), we're already extremely proud of him. I hope he's learned what standing up for himself can do for him. And I hope he can manage to apply the lesson to the rest of his life.

Meanwhile, I'm not sure if it was a premeditated act, but Laurana sure seems to know which of my buttons to push to make her cuter and sweeter (mainly I think to offset her demonic nature). She started not feeling good with a slight fever last night. "My tummy... hurt. Me no feel good," was the sweetly pathetic litany of the evening. Luckily, she managed to sleep through the night and was feeling at least a little better this morning. I got my usual call from her while on the way to her daycare. Usually it's "good morning" and "I go [daycare]'s house" and "I love you, daddy". But this morning, still feeling somewhat under the weather, she said to me, in her sad little voice, "Please come home, daddy. Please come home." She just wanted to cuddle with me on the couch all day and watch Dora. "Please come home" just about ripped my heart out of my chest. I was ready to run out the door, though I knew I wasn't going to, and that she was going to have a perfectly fine day at daycare, as she almost always does. But I think I'm going to have a hard time putting her down when I get home from work tonight.

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