I have just finished helping Sam clean his room and I am utterly hot and exhausted. Had to kick Monty out of there four times because he was pulling things out and dumping them on the floor that we had just tidied. Monty as a superhero would be THE DISMANTLER. He could just go to the criminals houses and make such a mess they would be so busy cleaning they would not have a chance to do crimes.

Sam would be THE QUESTIONER. He would just ask the criminals sooo many questions aobut the same thing that they would start to cry and go have a drink. It is the second day of grounding.
"Why am I grounded, Mommy?"
"You know why, Sam."
"Just tell me again. Why?"
"Because you went into the garage without asking, Sam."
"But I did ask! Why can't I have asked Anty Bon if she's a grown up?"
"Because Daddy told you to ask me or him. And you brought friends in there and you know you're not supposed to do that."
"But I didnt! Okay, Dimitri went in for ONE MINUTE with his foot and then he got out! I swear! Why am I grounded?
"You know they were in there for lomger than that, Sam. Nice try."
"But WHYYY? Why can't I just go on the porch? I won't play, I will just watch my friends! Why can't I do THAT?"
"Because you're grounded."
"That is SO STUPID! Why am I grounded?"

And around and around and around we go and where he will stop I will never know. Because I will have collapsed from sheer exhaustion from answering questions. He will probably keep asking anyway.

Eight year old kids have a lot of little toy type things that are ABSOLUTELY essential for well being. If you happen to be invited to a party for a kid six and up, do the parents a favour and avoid the following toys:

Bionicles (five hundred little body parts for robot guys in a cylinder shaped can which has a lid that instantly becomes lost, and if they lose one of the essential bionicle joiny pieces then the whole thing is just a 'piece of crap'.)

Kinex (an awesome building toy that has millions of little connecting pieces and I am sure is super educational if you managed to recover said pieces from the couch cushions and bathtub drain and under the dresser and actually built something besides 'the longest snake in the world'.)

Legos (again, of course, a perennial favorite but man, those pieces just keep getting smaller and smaller. We have a pair of lego goggles for a tiny lego Anakin and he can't fly without em. These goggles are about 1/4 inch big. Try finding that in the backyard grass, buddy.)

That's all I can think of for now. And I have to get Sammy to Karate and we are picking up our DISHWASHER tonight (whooopppeeee!) and I was going to try to go see Mean Girls with Tracy.

So I bettera goa. Ciao.+