Little Quinny

Have you ever heard the “Little Johnny” jokes? For several reasons, I have a feeling that they might one day be replaced by “Little Quinny” jokes. Here’s an example of one - Little Johnny was in class learning his ABCs. The teacher was asking the class to name something with each letter of the alphabet in order. Little Johnny raised his hand for each letter, but she kept skipping him thinking that he would say something bad, like “ass” for A and “butt” for B. Finally, she had gotten all the way to R. Little Johnny dutifully raised his hand while nobody else did. She figured, “what could he say that is naughty that starts with R?” So she called on Little Johnny. Little Johnny immediately said, “Rats!” “Oh, that’s nice,” the teacher said, relieved. “No, Rats, with big penises!” Little Johnny followed up immediately…

Well, I have my own version of Little Johnny in my house. We had some friends over for dinner. All of the adults had gathered outside while the kids gathered in the kitchen. One brave soul went in to check on her son, and came out a couple of minutes later laughing. She said that Quin was teaching the kids the alphabet. “A, B, C, D, E, F, penis…” She apparently kept it together long enough to get outside before she busted out laughing…

Ethan has been showing off his entrepreneurial side again. He and a buddy were out exploring near a train station a few days back and they found what they are sure are chunks of coal. The two of them are convinced that they can sell it for big money on Ebay, only one of them needs an account. So he asked me, and I told him we’d talk about it later, and then left to go to a movie with Jenny. Before the movie we stopped for appetizers at a brewpub and I got a call on my cell phone - it was Ethan, using his iPod as a phone. I answered and he asked if it was OK if he signed up for an Ebay account - he was apparently at the screen where it said you had to ask your parents. So I told him no and that we would talk about it later… It’s kind of funny how persistent he is on one hand, yet he’s so afraid to break the rules that he insists on calling me even a few minutes after we had already discussed it - and still follows my directions.