The Contest

It seems that I'm really falling off the blogging wagon. This is sad because I love to write, and I know that writing more makes me better (see there, students), but I just haven't had the time/inspiration. I have made many excuses in my head, some of which are:

1) Sometimes my job can be really stressful. I have this problem of taking on more than I should. I don't mean "biting off more than I can chew" because I am pretty good at not taking on more assignments than I can do. What I mean is that I mentally take on more than I should. Somehow I find myself feeling personally responsible for every student at my school passing the ELA TAKS. Recently, I've also been overwhelmed by the apathy some of my students feel toward education, and I feel personally responsible for showing them that education is the only way to the future they dream of. This has consumed me a little in recent weeks.

2) Grad school is a lot of work, and I like to make 100s. Don't get me wrong, it should be a lot of work, but I should let go of the idea that 100s on everything are essential. I made a 98 in my last class, and it didn't kill me.

Eh. These are just excuses. I shall make it my goal to post at least once each week, both for the therapeutic element and for the fun of it.

Today I would like to post about burps. That's right. Burps.

Keaton strongly believes that burps are the funniest thing on the planet. He burps as often as possible, and after each burp he laughs his "I just did something hysterical" laugh. If no one else responds, he announces, "Did you hear that? I just went 'BBUUUUURRRPPPP' and it was really loud." He repeats this until he gets some sort of response from whomever is nearby.

One child burping all the time is bad enough, but then Keaton did the only thing he could do to get Tucker involved in the shenanigans. He made it a contest.

One random day about two weeks ago:
Keaton: Tucker, I burped seventeen times today. How many times did you burp?

Tucker (concerned that he was losing this impromptu contest): Um. Uh. Um. BBUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRPPPPPPP. I can burp louder than you.

Keaton: BUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRPPPPP. Now I burped eighteen times.

And so the contest began. It continued on and on with entries like these.

Tucker: Keaton, today I burped twenty times at lunch. That's a lot of burps!

Keaton: When we were outside I could burp so loud you could hear it in the back yard!

Of course there were also the entries we got to witness first person -- random, repetitive belching in all sorts of voices and all volume levels, always followed by raucous laughter. It was getting out of control.

Finally, Saturday morning, Trey put his foot down.

Trey: It is very rude to just burp all the time. I certainly hope you boys don't burp like that at school or when you're with other people. I've had enough.

Tucker: But it's a contest!

Keaton: And it's funny!

Trey: The contest is over. The next person who burps gets a spanking!

A somber mood passed over the boys as they realized their beloved two-week old contest was over. At least it was over until that afternoon.

They had cokes with lunch.

Before his first big burp, Keaton announced, "If I burp, it's not my fault. It's the coke's fault."

And so the belching began again, always followed by an announcement about it being the coke's fault, or the cereal's fault, or the chicken nugget's fault. Always followed by laughter.

Honestly, I don't want them out in the world burping all the time, but I'm kind of glad to see the contest come back. They're just boys, after all, and they were having so much fun.

And when Trey wasn't looking, I was winning. :)