Go Cocks!

Ariana has to do a scrapbooking project for school. There are several different sections, all related to South Carolina. The current section that she must do is to find three South Carolina songs and write something personal about each one. Ari and I puzzled over which songs we could have her do that she'd be able to cover. Finally, I figured out two of them: the SC fight song and the Clemson fight song. I figured she could write about how both her parents have degrees from SC, yet her mother currently works at Clemson, and how she's been to both campuses, etc. Ari loved this idea, so we decided to head to the scrapbooking store here in our small town to find some USC and Clemson stickers. No problem. In SC, school rivalries are taken seriously, so you can pretty much find anything USC or Clemson anywhere in the state.

After leaving the store, Ariana and Jared started talking about the mascots. It was inevitable, I suppose. Ariana started saying in the loudest voice possible, "It's COCKS! Cocks. It's not a rooster, Jared, it's a COCK! COCK! DO YOU HEAR ME??? COCK!"

Ahem.

How does one explain this situation to a child? Additionally, how does one explain this to a child...without laughing one's arse off???

So, clearing my voice, I explained to Ariana that she should be careful about using that word because it has two meanings. "One is a type of fowl, called the gamecock. The other...well, it's slang for a man's penis. So, if you are just shouting out 'cock' all over the place, people might think you're a very rude little girl."

Ariana was horrified. Changing her previous stance, she pleaded, "Can't we just say rooster then?"

"No," I started to explain, "A rooster isn't very fierce. A gamecock, however, IS. They are especially trained for fighting. In fact, even though in many states it's illegal, there's cockfighting all over the place..."

Alex tried to keep a straight face. He failed. Laughing, then the kids did too as they had a visual image of...well, not the fowl type of cock, fighting. "AHAHAHAHA! Oh Mommy, that's so funny...cockfighting...AHAHAHA!"

Sigh. There's really no hope for any offspring of mine, is there?

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So, my cat has only woken me up one (1) time in the middle of the night since we returned from Grant's over a week ago. I still can't figure out why Chian was so determined that Grant never sleep. Oh well. Maybe he just loves creepy ones more than me and hence needs to play with them all night long.

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Classes start tomorrow for me. I was trying to get organized for the first day of classes. I am getting tired of the repetative opening intro lecture that I've now given for the last four years, even though each time I tweak it and change it. I know that part of it is just that first day, too, wherein you see the personality of each class. I'll have two classes to meet tomorrow, then two on Thursday. Tonight, I have to set up my courses on Blackboard. Even though I became quite comfortable working on Blackboard this last semester, Angie was the one who set up my courses on there the first time, so I will have to muddle through it tonight to figure out how to do it. At least this term I start out with a) paychecks immediately and b) in the system for email and Blackboard. That should make life easier.

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I'm used to Alex being around me. It's been around four weeks since we've spent a night apart. I could get used to this. I am NOT looking forward to him disappearing this weekend for his classes next week. Sigh. Just a few more months, though, and he's here for good...just a few more months...

It's easier on the kids to have him here too. Jared and Ari will be very upset when he leaves. Five months is a long time to small children...eternity, almost.