Fatherly foolishness

The prospect of the first three-day weekend of the school year brought out the giddiness in everyone, including, strangely enough, Jimmy. As evidenced in the picture at left, Jimmy has a rather unique sense of humor that we have all learned to tolerate.

Reagan skipped out of the house this morning with visions of her first school dance twinkling in her head. I really hope she can concentrate today as that dance is tonight and there is little else on her prepubescent, boy-crazy mind. Jimmy yelled after her, "Stay away from the boys! We have a 5 foot rule!!" Sure, Dad.

Sutton soon headed out the door, leaving for an all day volleyball tournament. She had a district-required random drug test yesterday and Jimmy quipped that he bet she didn't pass it. Horror spread across her face as she stood staring at him in disbelief. He quickly added, "I never saw you study for it." She can really roll those eyes.

Keaton asked Jimmy to check over her math homework. He told her to bring him a pencil and then began, "You missed this one, this one, this one, got that one right, missed this one, this one, got that one right." The tears began to well up in her eyes. Sensing her distress he quickly handed her the homework paper to correct. She stuttered, "I don't see which ones are wrong." Jimmy reassured her it was because "they were ALL right." Whew, was she relieved and, surprisingly, our little actress was a little miffed at the unnecessary drama.

Hayden wouldn't learn his Bible memory verse again. Daddy wasn't so chipper with the hard-headed little whiz kid. Jimmy picked up the phone to "call" Mrs. Constance and told Hayden that he, himself, would have to tell his teacher that he was refusing to learn the verse and that Mrs. Constance should go ahead and give him a failing grade. It's amazing what a little healthy fear can accomplish with a belligerent five year old. That verse was memorized within seconds; and while Hayden wasn't amused, Dad was gleefully impressed with his own unconventional parenting.

Of course Landon didn't help matters much by remarking to Hayden, "You're too fussy, Bubba. You need to go to bed?" I guess Daddy's littlest one got the last laugh.