They do say the darndest things

So it was my son's birthday the other day and he decided he didn't want a birthday party just a special day with one special friend. My wife and I thought Score! Less work and organization for us, which when it comes to children's birthdays is really the prime consideration. When we asked him who he wanted to bring he responds with the name of a girl in his class that he has gone to school with since pre-school. Now this girl is one of his best friends so it makes sense but of course all my wife and I can think is how do we explain to her parents that our 7 yr old son wants to take their daughter on a birthday date. With this in mind we try and convince him that it would be good to maybe take one other friend. It takes a little while but finally he agrees and lets us know that he'll invite one more person, another girl. Now, don't get me wrong, there is a little bit of fatherly pride that my son is apparently a ladies man (that is how I am choosing to interpret the situation) but my wife and I can also see this situation getting more awkward as we really do not know this other girl's parents and they might not be OK with the Hugh Heffner style birthday my son is arranging for himself. Being the good parents we are we then use the Jedi mind trick to convince him that maybe it would be better to just have a special day with one friend.

Anyways, the day comes and my wife takes my son on his date/birthday and everything goes fantastic. Now when you have two boys you get used to constant poking, prodding, jumping, throwing in search of the inner alpha male. So the dynamic of a boy and girl together was quite interesting. The two of them had a great time and the whole experience was quite mellow as they both were much more cooperative than competitive. However, the classic moment, and the reason for this entire post was the conversation between my wife and the kids at dinner.

My son's friend turns to my wife and said "Do you know he is the funniest person on earth?" My wife, thinking that goofball and funny are apparently the same thing in grade one, replied that no she was not aware that he was the "funniest person on earth". With this my son's friend turned to him and asked "How do always know the perfect time to be funny?" My son, in a very serious tone, responded with "Well, you know, when I was born I wasn't sure I knew when, but then one day I just realized that I had it."

Now if you don't have a 7 year old you might not get this but it is pretty neat when you realize that while your child may not actually be "the funniest person on earth" you do enjoy spending time with them more than anyone else on earth.

Our Nation's Capital

I recently spent a week in Ottawa at an educational conference and unlike our leaders the capital city did not disappoint. I have been looking forward to visiting Ottawa for many years but for some reason I have not been able to convince my wife that Ottawa in March can be as nice as Mexico, just different. So when my school asked if anyone was interested in attending a conference in Ottawa being a dedicated educational professional I jumped at the opportunity.

The history of the city, the educational, cultural and historical attractions and just being in the middle of the workings of our government was pretty cool, not to mention there is an Irish pub every block. Ottawa is definitely a place that every Canadian should visit if only to see where many of our tax dollars go and that bilingualism might not have been such a bad idea. However, perhaps the best example of Ottawa as a government town is the fact that they built their hockey arena 18 miles from downtown in a different city (Kanata). It might have been a 45 minute bus ride but at least the Senators won, they even took it to a shootout so we got our money's worth.

Not only was the trip a great personal experience and one more thing to scratch off my life list, it also did fire me up a great deal as a teacher. Sure the conference was fine but being a social studies teacher and getting to visit the Parliament buildings, the War Museum and the Museum of Civilization my mind was racing with new ideas for my classes. I have also decided that when I grow up I really want to be a Senator.