I won't believe everything he says about you, if you don't believe everything he says about me :)

Each month Ian receives a homework packet with four "homework" assignments for the week. Tonight's assignment asked for Ian (the student) to write one or two sentences describing things he does with his mother. As is typical, Devon and I split up tonight to help each little guy. Devon worked with Ian on his homework, while I got Matthew ready for bed (i.e., jammies, sleepy snack, read a book, etc.). After Matthew was almost ready for bed, I went to check on Ian and found him coloring his picture of us together. 

What did Ian choose to write about?  When I think of things Ian and I do together, lots of things come to mind: read books, go for walks, play games, work in the yard, etc.  He wrote he likes to go to Sea World and scratch lottery tickets with his mother! :)  I can just imagine his kindergarten teacher reading his sentences, and thinking...WOW, great job mom. ;) It is a true story though - Ian and I do scratch lottery tickets together, and he loves it. 

So where did these lottery tickets come from?  A couple of months ago, Ian's elementary school had a spring festival to raise money for the school. One of the many activities was a silent auction where various themed baskets were auctioned off. I'm not really sure what came over me that day, but it was about 15 minutes before the end of the auction, and there was a basket with over 150 lottery tickets in it, and I decided to outbid the previous bidders. I really thought someone would put in another bid, but that was not the case, and we went home with a massive basket of lottery tickets. When I found out I had won the basket, I braced myself for Devon's response. Fortunately, he handled it with a great sense of humor and saw it as a nice donation to the school.  Each night Ian and I scratch a ticket, and if for some reason I forget or we run out of time, Ian lets me know! We had a string of nights where we ran out of time, forgot, etc. I ended up finding a chart that Ian made where he kept up with number of nights where we forgot to do "scratchies."  Anyway, apparently this is an enjoyable activity for him. :)  I don't think he really understands what a lottery ticket is. To him, it's a game. I'm hoping in the end we will break even, and it will have made for a fun little event for several weeks. 

As for his teacher, I hope she has a good sense of humor too. I can't remember the exact situation, but I remember talking to a parent my first year of teaching, and we were discussing how what students say often needs to be taken with a grain of salt. This particular mom said something to the effect of, I won't believe everything he says about you, if you don't believe everything he says about me. I think this is a good rule of thumb to live by.