I lost my voice

I have lost my voice. I have been sick since Friday. On Friday, I moved from one place to another in my house, trying to lie down and watch three children. I ordered a pizza for dinner. When my husband returned from work, all four of us were in the master bed watching television.

I have watched enough television in the past 48 hours to notice that my children seem more intellectually gifted than many of the commentators. Of course, I am just as biased as the rest of America, just in my own motherly way.

These are things that my children have said in the past 48 hours:

“Mom, what does ‘among’ mean?”

“If you have a bowl full of jellybeans and just a few M&M’s, then you have M&M’s among your jellybeans,” I squeaked. (On Friday, I could still squeak.)

“What if I ate all the jellybeans?”

“Then you would have some lonely M&M’s.”

“What does ‘robotic’ mean?”

“Like a robot. A robot is generally a machine that does something that a human would typically do.”

“Cool, we have a robot in our house.”

“Where?”

“Our printer is a drawing robot.”

“Do you know why writing is important to America?”

“Why?”

“Because you have to do the right thing.”

He proceeded to spell “right” and “write” just in case I didn’t get the full force of his humor. He went on to explain how there is a silent ‘w’. Hilarious! Then, he noticed that the only other silent ‘w’ word he could think of was ‘wrong.’

“Wow, Mom, ‘write’ and ‘wrong’. That IS funny!! ha ha hoo hoo”

I know. Some part of this is directly from his first grade teacher. They have been discussing symbols of America in class. But, as his mother, I really want him to get it. Writing against wrongs is very much what America is all about. He doesn't quite get that yet, I don't think. I couldn't even squeak out that the pen is mightier than the sword. On another day, I will say that. Today I was glad to see him enjoying the humor of his own discovery.

He kept making jokes.

I smiled, unable to squeak out a comment fast enough.

I listened, as quiet as the silent "w."