Towering ambition, knotty stuff and funny old tubes

Things I’ve learned from my children today.

Competition is hard-wired. Boy Two had Little Friend D over to play yesterday during the jolly polling day holiday. The boys had a lot of noisy and violent fun together. Over supper the conversation turned to whose dad had gone higher up the Eiffel Tower. “Mine went to here and had a French crepe at the top.”

Inconsistency is sometimes surprising. My big Boys know what an aglet is, yet both struggle to tie their shoe laces well.

Spelling is funny. Boy Two was mugging up on difficult words for today’s spelling test while Boy Three was sitting on half of his supper and applying the rest. Boy Three’s repast is a protracted affair. So we were sounding the words. “Tube, gnarled, screw.” And Boy Three got the giggles. “Screw” is funnier than “gnarled”, “people” than “thirsty”, but “tube” is the absolutely funniest thing ever.