On Calendars And Schedules

My boys are intrigued, dare I say obsessed, with all things time.  Honestly, as I am not a child psychologist, I don't know if this is good or bad.  I found this on the floor the other day:

Here is what I feel N got right here:  there is a discernible pattern, 'football' is spelled correctly, and, uh... well, in the interest of consistency, every 'k' is backwards.

I'm just gonna let the flip side of that thought speak for itself.

I find these little schedules and calendars all the time.  Sometimes they are about school, other times countdowns to a big event.  Z even had it in his mind to do a whole yearlong calendar with a page for each day (I had to quickly nix that plan, we already go through reams of paper).  They both have their own little day planners, some dates full of multicolored plans and rescheduled events like dates with imaginary friends, a trip to Mexico or Greenland (which for some reason they find hilarious), and even doctor and dentist visits.

I am not even that busy.

I think I know why they have this interest.  I don't think they are bored, I don't think they want to do all those things and I don't think they really feel they need to remember these things.  I think they need to control something, even if it is only in their imagination.  Don't get me wrong, my wife and I are not by anyone's definition, control freaks, but a lot of these guys life is out of their control.

A funny shift has happened recently in the way I see the boys:  suddenly I have come to the realization that I can remember being their age.  And one thing I  recall is that I felt I didn't have a say in anything when I was a kid, and I didn't.  I mean they'd have pasta and apricots for dinner every night, they'd stay up until ten giggling and climbing on the bunks like monkeys, they would be awash in a six-inch deep sea of Legos, there would be room dedicated to the saving and archiving of every drawing and craft ever created in this household, and they would never have their hair or fingernails cut.  (I know, those guys lived down the hall from you in your freshman dorm, didn't they?  They were kind of creepy as I recall.)  You see it just wouldn't do, would it?  At least that's how I see it...

The interesting, and perhaps more significant, other side of this observation is that they will probably remember this time of their life as well.  No more "oh they won't remember that" from the "big guys," as N calls us parental units sometimes; no more lazy "oh we'll do that later so they'll remember it."  No, I can safely say we are now in the business of creating memories and that is a big responsibility.

Now, which do I have, football or baskitball?


From Marci's '...things you don't expect to hear fro the backseat...'

"Zack and I are on a new basketball team.  Our colors are black and grey.  We are the Colorado Sea Lions."

I'm thinking that's just odd.  Maybe I should get out the map...