Dear Journal

Sam adores the toys in Happy Meals more than any child alive, so when the Pirates of the Carribean stuff came along just after the tonsillectomy, it actually worked well for us. I had an excuse to get him the crappy-ass little toys and eat Happy Meals. Since I like double cheeseburgers, this was a win-win for both of us.

Of all the toys in the meals, his favorite thing, by far, has been a little journal with a pencil. I must take this moment to say that I 'm all for a cheesy prize that invokes writing or drawing, so kudos to those planners, although when I opened it, I have to admit, I thought, "Fucking a, this sucks and he's going to be pissed off." Happily, I was very wrong and the inflatable sword, which I thought he would love, turned out to be the turkey in the bunch.

Anyway, the journal has given us hours of fun because Sam has decided that this is his diary of sorts and he must, naturally, record his "deepest darkest secrets" in it. The only problem is that Sam can't write or spell, so thankfully, he has to have parents transcribe said secrets for him. It is a blast to see how his mind works--I can't reveal them, of course, but one of the first ones did have to do with Mr. Snuggles, his teddy bear, sleeping with him. He's also tried to gross us out, as well, which is rather disturbing, yet amusing as well (who knew that chewing ones toes was such a vice?). I make him sign each entry so that he can't come back later, when I pull this out to share it with him in his teen years, and insist that I put words in his mouth. All of it is strictly word for word.

Additionally, he has decide to write a pirate story and keeps coming back to his story, in the back of the book, so that we can add what he calls, "the build up". I must say that his English-teaching mother who just spent 20 minutes going over plot diagrams with ninth graders today was MOST impressed and proud of that literary gem. He's very intent that he have "build up" or the story will be boring and no one will read it. All on his own. I just sit there, gaping at the things that he says sometimes and this one took the cake.

He's added a ton of artwork to the journal as well--I'm going to get it scanned someday. It's hilarious to see how his mind works.