Another snow day

(or: How McMinnville has not discovered the magic of tire chains)

Yesterday was a "snow day" for McMinnville's whole school district even though there was only about an inch of powder and almost no ice. I worked in the store all day and watched the cars passing by. I understand that many people around here have snow tires to help with traction, but if the weather conditions are bad enough to call school off, it seems to me that people ought to have had chains on their cars. We did. Some roads were dangerously slippery even for cars with chains. Has no one around here heard of chains?

Today is another "snow day" even though not a spec of new snow fell from the sky last night. I suppose it's ice we're concerned with now. Again, chains are a great aid in black ice conditions. I'm annoyed because it seems so needless and it has left me with one whiny six year old who announced this morning that "The school better not keep having snow days because I am getting used to them." Philip did great with Max yesterday, playing with him, keeping his video game playing and his movie watching to a minimum. It's my turn now and I confess that I do not do well spending fourteen hours straight trying to entertain a six year old. I have to get laundry done, and cook food, I have to do dishes.

I can force him to play by himself, but I'm a wimp. If I do that he might launch into a crying jag which will almost certainly turn into a bloody event. I've suggested he play hot wheels with Grandma, but he is insisting on me. Of course he is. It's at times like these when I wistfully imagine what it might have been like to have a girl, the kind of girl I could sit around and color in books with, do some cool crafts, dress up dolls, and have help me in the kitchen. I love having a boy most of the time. It surprises me that I do, but it's true. But keeping him entertained is challenging. He wants to play war with legos. Or he wants to play war with hot wheels. I LOVE building lego fortresses but I loathe playing war with them. It's a frequent argument between Max and I.

I had an interesting talk with Max the other day when we were playing war with the legos. He stopped mid-bombing and said "Do you think Martin Luber King can see me?" "I don't know" I said. "If he can see me, I hope he can tell that this is just a game. It's not a real war. Do you think he knows we're just playing at war?" Interesting. "I don't know if he can see you Max, but I'm pretty sure that if he can, he knows that legos aren't real. Are you worried about this because he was a great believer in non-violence?" He resumes bombing the Bionicle enemy and concludes "Yeah. Because I like to play war with my legos, but I would never want to be in real war." Which is especially interesting since he's told me before that he would like to fight evil, so he's going to join the Navy.

He has also been known to say the following "Why hasn't someone put the President in jail? He's a bad man. If I was a grown up I would make him stop having the war." You're imagining us sitting with Max at the dinner table, with bare bulb hanging in front of his face, and we're making him repeat over and over again "The president is a bad man...the president is a bad man..." like a democrat's catechism. C'mon, you think we're filling his head with propaganda, don't you? HA! You're wrong. It's true that we have had some political discussions with Max when he's asked us what we're talking about. Which has led to more explanations and discussions.

The real reason Max thinks the president is a bad man is because Max wants to visit his Grandpa Adam in Israel. A grandpa he's never met. He wanted to go "right now." I explained that right now is a bad time for Americans to visit that part of the world. So I had to explain that we were having a war on, thanks to our noble leader. Max declared that he was really mad at President Bush because it was just mean of him to have a war so that he couldn't visit his Grandpa. He decided right there and then that Bush should go to jail. Max promises me that if he was a policeman he would put Bush in jail right now.

Amen kiddo.