Letter to a penpal

In Simon's class, the kids were asked to write a letter to "Lilly," a character in a book they had read. Here is Simon's letter:

Dear Lilly,
I love math! I am in first grade. You can come to my house if you want. I have one computer. There are a lot of bookmarks on the computer. I live on S--- Road. I know a lot about math! Do you like math? Maybe some day you will.
From, Simon

Sasha Obama, age 7

Me: [much excitement, crying, jumping, singing, carrying on, & etc.] ...so, all the Obamas will move here: Barack, Michelle, and the kids, Malia & Sasha, who is about your age.

Simon: Do you think she likes math?

Hedging Bets

Yesterday on the way home, Simon announced that his tooth was loose. 

Me: How exciting! Do you know about the Tooth Fairy?
Simon: I don't think she's real. I think it's your parents who put the money under your pillow.

Me: Well, we'll have to wait and see!

Simon: I know. The first night, I'll put my tooth under my pillow and we'll wait to see if she comes. If she comes, great. If there's no treasure under my pillow the next morning, I'll put the tooth under my pillow again, and the second night, you and Daddy can put the treasure under my pillow.

Should I still read the book?

I am reading an 800-page book. It's called The Mitfords  and is a collection of letters sent between the 6 infamous sisters over many, many decades. 

Simon loves 800-page books, just as a general rule.

Recently, he picked up my book and flipped through it.

He hands it back to me: "Just so you know, A few of the sisters die at the end, and the whole family falls apart."

Excited to talk about math

Location:

The dinner table

Simon: May I be excused?
Sarah: Why don't you sit for another minute and talk with us.
Simon: Talk about what?
Sarah: Well, you could talk about your piano recital today. Or about Halloween.
Simon:
Sarah: Or Math.
Simon: Math!
Sarah: Okay, we can talk about math.
Simon: Yay!

On Bravery

Last week Simon was very nervous about going to swimming lessons. He'd been fine the first time, but for some reason, was extremely apprehensive about going the second time. When I picked him up he claimed injury in several places (i.e. "I banged my shoulder earlier. I don't think we can go to swimming lessons."). When this failed as a tactic he grew silent. He did not want to get out of the car when we got to the rec center.

Me: Maybe you could pretend to be somebody really brave. Like a knight.

Simon: I don't want to be a knight.

Me: Or Spiderman.

Simon: Spiderman isn't real.

Me: Well, can you think of somebody real who is brave that you could be?

Simon: Who's that guy, where there were two teams, and one team was smaller than the other team but they won anyway?

Me: 

Simon: From Sunday School.

Me: Judah Maccabee?

Simon: Him, yes. I want to be him.

This impersonation (which involved brandishing his towel as a shield from the presumed onslaught delivered by the kids (aka the Syrian army) leaving the rec center after the previous class), at least, got him in the door of the building and into the changing room. 

Coming out of the changing room, he decided to just be Simon again, and proceeded into the pool. 

The internets

Simon and I heard a story about Google Chrome yesterday on NPR. At the end of the story, the reporter signed off from Google headquarters in Mountain View, California.

Me: Maybe we should start using Chrome on our computer.

Simon: Well, they said it was in California. Daddy has been to California, maybe we could send him back there, and he could pick it up for us.