Kids Are A Constant.

Kids are a constant. A constant pain in your ass or a constant joy, sometimes both at the same time.

By the way it's Dave writing. I'm giving Kathy a break since she has to hunt and peck with one hand, although I have found she makes less errors that way as she has to concentrate more. Any rate, back to the story...

Mason has a special friend. His name is Johnny Test. Now Johnny Test is real, on TV, as a cartoon character and maybe to Mason's imagination can be real from time to time. Johnny Test has been a friend and mentor to Mason. Johnny Test has had items put on him in the car and has been locked out of the house on occasion. He is particularly useful at dessert time. Now that you know who Johnny Test is, here's the rest of the story.

A few nights back we put Mason to bed. After his bed time story he started fussing because he only got one story from his book. After numerous ups and downs and into our room Kathy gave him the what for and sent him off to bed crying. As he lay in bed he was going through fits of crying interspersed with totally calm and rational talking. It turns out that one of the voices was a very upset Mason (or Johnny Test, we're not sure) and the other "voice of reason" and calm, the other. It was hilarious to eavesdrop on this.
Crying voice - "Mommy is never nice, she never lets me do anything"
Calm voice - "Now you know you have to go to bed. You shouldn't make your parents angry". This went on for a few minutes until he walked back into our room.
Mason asked, "If daddy puts me in my room (after I fall asleep) can I lay with you guys? I promise not to talk or move or anything."

Pause in the story for a moment and understand that we completely realize that we have set our son up. We both know he will not keep his word...he cannot keep his word. Now back to the story.

Well, after the good laugh we had at his expense we couldn't say no, but Kathy said, "If you move or talk once, it's straight to bed." Which he agreed to. He jumped in between us and settled down. We were watching "My name is Earl" so we turned it back on. Not one minute into hes agreement, he asked what they were doing in the program. In unison, Kathy and I said, "Okay, you talked off to bed." Which brought off a new round of crying.

Kathy is busting up laughing because she said, "You are my son because you can't keep from talking" (which of course I say amen to). As he trundles off to bed defeated, dejected and crying disconsolately you hear the voice of reason, "You know you weren't supposed to talk, why did you talk?"

P.S. The photos is an older one, but still completely accurate at any given time. Also, we've recently learned that Johnny Test is the voice of reason. We're glad somebody is!