Just Tie The Noose Around My Neck

The Schmitty household is a very "connected" household.

You can usually find one or more of us, at any given time, connected to the Internet, to an iPod, to a DSi, to a cell phone, and/or connected to an Xbox or a Wii.

Some might say we are technologically savvy. Others may say we need to disconnect.

I agree with them both.

So, periodically, I make my kids shut off the electronics and I, GOD FORBID, ask them to have some family time. I have even been known to coax Mr. Schmitty into putting down the remote once in a while. I then get him to engage in some good old fashioned games and activities.

Heh.

Around here we like to color a lot and just recently we assembled a 750 piece puzzle on the dining room table. Mr. Schmitty and I like games such as Rummikub and we are currently hooked on Bananagrams. On the weekends we will even crack open a bottle of wine with our friends and play *dirty word Bananagrams a few rounds.

*Okay, that was only once because the wine flowed a little too freely that night. And besides, the kids were out of earshot and it was funny as shit.

Anyway, a few days ago I was in my favorite store, Tar-Jay, and I came across some really cute notepads. One was the Dot to Dot Game, another was Tic Tac Toe, and the last was Hangman. They were perfect because each package contained three notepads; one for each of my offspring, which meant: There would be NO fighting over them.

Of course, I needed to write their names on the backer so we didn't go down the road of, "That's Mine!!" "NO, IT'S MINE!!" When the pad was empty.

Last night R. and I began playing Hangman. She's doing really well with her reading, but her spelling is not quite up to par, so I knew that I was pretty much going to be losing every game.

Ahhh, the sacrifices a mother will make.

During our last game she drew five dashes to represent the word she was thinking of. I began guessing and asked if there was an "S".

"NOPE! You've got a head!!" She shouted as she drew a circle on the pad.

"Um, T!"

"There are two T's! Good job mommy!"

I proceeded to call out vowels. "A!" "E!" "I!" "O!" "U!"

"No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" As she drew a body, two arms, and two legs. "You lose!" She announced triumphantly.

"Hey, wait a minute!" I said, "All words have a vowel in them. Are you sure?"

She looked at her dashes again and went into deep thought.

"Oh! Silly me!" She exclaimed as she erased the mark she had made on the letter "O". She then filled in the dashes and erased a leg.

"There! You won!"

Puzzled, I looked at her paper.



She went into hysterics and said, "Mom, Tooot! It's like a fart!"