The Baby Gift
To avoid any more gift getting-gift sending difficulties with my ex, I purchased a book for LM to give to his new cousin, even though it's my ex's sister-in-law who had the baby. I bought one of LM's favorite picture books from when he was little, "Old Turtle" and waited for LM to come home from his dad's to inscribe a short message to the new babe.
This morning, I spoke with LM about what might be appropriate to write inside the book cover; a note saying how much he had enjoyed this book when he was little and wanted to share it's joy with little Ethan. He was writing in ink, so I stressed the importance of extreme neatness, reminding him that this would probably be kept for years and years. The first thing he does is write "Ea" and then says, "Mom, how do you spell Ethan?" He tries to make the 'a' into a 't', and gives me a sorry look. When he finishes his inscription, I say, "Now, let's date it for Ethan's birth. What day was he born?" and we think back until we remember it was Friday morning. I go over to the calendar and say, "December 29th". LM writes in the book and then hands it over to me for my approval. On the top of the inscription he has now written, "January 2, 2007". I nearly lost my mind. I explained to him how we had JUST talked about putting down the DATE OF ETHAN'S BIRTH not TODAY'S DATE. And how I had even said, "DECEMBER 29th" ALOUD. Oh, he didn't get that. So, under his name, I have hiim write Ethan's full name and his birth date so it doesn't look like we were complete morons.
Then I give LM the card that goes with the book. "Just write something nice to your aunt and uncle and little Ethan about what a blessing a new baby is or something," I say. Apparently, I should have been more specific. "May God bless you and ease your burden. Happy New Year, Love, LM" is what he writes on the New Baby card. I lost it. I asked LM "What burden?" He replied, "You know, how tired Aunt M is going to be with the new baby and all." Great, so we've implied on the new baby card that babies are a pain.in.the.neck. GREAT!!
I get out a blank and empty card form from my scrapbooking supplies, cut out the cute little baby things from this card that he just wrote on and glue them onto the card form. I hand this one to LM and say, "Can we try this again and this time say something POSITIVE about having a new baby?!" So he writes a nice little note, copying from what the pre-printed inscription had been on the old card. It reads much better than before, actually implying that we are glad Ethan has arrived.
I would hate to see what LM might write in a sympathy card.
This morning, I spoke with LM about what might be appropriate to write inside the book cover; a note saying how much he had enjoyed this book when he was little and wanted to share it's joy with little Ethan. He was writing in ink, so I stressed the importance of extreme neatness, reminding him that this would probably be kept for years and years. The first thing he does is write "Ea" and then says, "Mom, how do you spell Ethan?" He tries to make the 'a' into a 't', and gives me a sorry look. When he finishes his inscription, I say, "Now, let's date it for Ethan's birth. What day was he born?" and we think back until we remember it was Friday morning. I go over to the calendar and say, "December 29th". LM writes in the book and then hands it over to me for my approval. On the top of the inscription he has now written, "January 2, 2007". I nearly lost my mind. I explained to him how we had JUST talked about putting down the DATE OF ETHAN'S BIRTH not TODAY'S DATE. And how I had even said, "DECEMBER 29th" ALOUD. Oh, he didn't get that. So, under his name, I have hiim write Ethan's full name and his birth date so it doesn't look like we were complete morons.
Then I give LM the card that goes with the book. "Just write something nice to your aunt and uncle and little Ethan about what a blessing a new baby is or something," I say. Apparently, I should have been more specific. "May God bless you and ease your burden. Happy New Year, Love, LM" is what he writes on the New Baby card. I lost it. I asked LM "What burden?" He replied, "You know, how tired Aunt M is going to be with the new baby and all." Great, so we've implied on the new baby card that babies are a pain.in.the.neck. GREAT!!
I get out a blank and empty card form from my scrapbooking supplies, cut out the cute little baby things from this card that he just wrote on and glue them onto the card form. I hand this one to LM and say, "Can we try this again and this time say something POSITIVE about having a new baby?!" So he writes a nice little note, copying from what the pre-printed inscription had been on the old card. It reads much better than before, actually implying that we are glad Ethan has arrived.
I would hate to see what LM might write in a sympathy card.
Comments
Ease your burden....
Clearly he has a future with Hallmark.
His card probably rings truer than most :)
By the way, thanks for the parenting advice. The next time I buy a gift or card for Alex to sign, I'll be sure to be very specific, spelling each & every word he's supposed to write, not giving him any room for creativity :)
I had to respond to this one--I laughed out loud and even shared it with Kevin who found it equally humorous! I'm sure the end result will be much appreciated!
I learned the hard way to let my boys use pencil in signing cards.