Grateful Wed and Gingerbread Penis

SO today is Grateful Wed, and I feel incredibly grateful for my family this week. Sadly, a six-year-old first grader at our school died in a car accident on the way home from school Friday. The funeral was yesterday. Needless to say, I'm holding my own children a little closer these days.

This week I'm particularly grateful for:
1. Safe children, for a moment, at least
2. Scintillating research (I'm working on a new, very exciting project)
3. The little boy's kindergarten teacher who was brave enough and selfless enough to speak at the funeral.
4. All the little children who came to support the boy's big brother, a fourth grader
5. The Grandma (who was driving) doesn't know about the boy yet. She's still in critical condition.
6. My mother-in-law who came for my son's grandparent's day (and the fact that we made it home safely that day)
7. My daughter's new enthusiasm for soccer.
8. A great group of kids who want to be on my OM team this year.
9. My YD's new dance teacher--she's awesome.
10. THREE birthdays in my house this week! Yee haw!

Now on to the really exciting stuff. I went to my YS's class for grandparent's day, and many new work samples were displayed for us to see. The most prominent display in the room was a row of gingerbread men, made of construction paper, but decorated with all manner of things including pasta. I asked my son to show me his, and he pointed it out saying, "My gingerbread man has a penis, see?" Lo, and behold, he did! A penne pasta penis. Before I could explode with laughter, it got better. He pointed to another little girl's paper, and said, "She copied me, even though I told her she didn't have one." Sure enough, this little girl had decorated her entire gingerbread man with penne past and just HAPPENED to have one in the correct place. It was surrounded by others, not the solitary pasta featured by my son. Figures he'd be so hypersensitive.

But see, this is the thing. That's part of his body, right? They also put eyes, ears, mouths, belly buttons, etc. Why not a penis? I mean, I'm glad he hasn't learned that it's a tabu thing yet. So I say, boys, enjoy your penne penis as long as you can because somebody's going to ask you to ignore it for the next twenty years of your life!

Another funny moment. We have a portrait painted of our two daughters together when they were young, and now someone is painting one of the boys (a great local artist, google him T. John F. Becker). At dinner the other night, one of the girls asked, "So when you put the boys up instead of us, can I have our picture?" We died laughing. The girls thought they were going to get the boot when the boys picture was complete, as opposed to, duh, hanging it on one of the other available walls!

Anyway, on a sad week, I'm looking for opportunities for laughter. You look, too. If you have kids at home, they're EVERYWHERE.

p.s. on the writing front, I'm SMOKING! Two submissions a week for the past two weeks, and at least one this week, even though it's been busy.