carrie and judah

Carrie posted this today about talking to Judah. So awesome!

Recently I was talking on the phone with my friend Judah, who just turned 6.

C: So, are you excited about your birthday?
J: YAAAAA!!
C: Hey you get to go to school on your birthday, are you doing anything fun at school?
J: We're gon' have cupcakes, and um, everyone will know it's my birfday.
C: You should run around at recess and yell "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!" just to make sure everyone knows.
J: Um, I think if I did that people would think I was kind of weird.
(I'm always taken aback when kids I know are suddenly old enough to use reason.)
C: So what do you want for your birthday?
J: SPY GEAR!!!
C: Spy gear? Like a pen that turns into a camera?
J: ...Yeah!
C: Like a...(trying to think of things that don't shoot or kill)...cool pair of sunglasses?
J: ......Yeah!
C: OK, spy gear. So, what's your favorite thing to eat for dinner?
J: Um, I like pizza, I like corndogs, I like hamburgers...
C: Totally, me too.

I was confused about this Spy Gear thing so I asked Stephanie. She said "oh, it's this toy with a camera on it so you can go spy on your sister or whatever." I believe it might be something like this. Wow, kids today! Nothing makes me reach more quickly for my Geritol than a child's toy that boasts about its "black and white video feed captured with 1/4 VGA CMOS camera."

My brother used to love his remote control cars. I distinctly remember the way they would wheeze over the cement sidewalk outside and smash repeatedly into the deck. It was amusing to lean the control level in one direction and watch the poor stupid car turn in an endless circle. Remote control cars are cute to see motoring around because you imagine a gerbil or squirrel driving them.

But if my brother had had a remote control car with a spy video camera, I would have smashed it with a wiffle ball bat as soon as I saw it peeping around the corner. Ain't nothin cute about that!