And so I've been encouraging him to memorize my cell phone number instead. We've also been teaching him how to make a call and answer the phone. (I can't help but note the irony that a child who can figure out how to play/use 25+ apps on my cell phone doesn't know how to use the phone as a phone.) We've also taped a note to the wall near one of the phones listing all of Jeff's and my work and cell phone numbers - something that helps both AJ and anyone who is babysitting the kids.
A few weeks ago - pardon me if I've already shared this story - I got a call at work. The conversation started like this:
Me: Hello, this is Dana.
AJ: Hi Mom, this is AJ. This is the first time I've ever called you.
He went on to ask if he and Sydney could walk to the babysitter's house to go swimming. All was good, and I appreciated him asking.
Yesterday, while sitting in a meeting for a community organization whose board of directors I recently joined, my cell phone started to vibrate. The display indicated the call was coming from home. We had a fairly new babysitter (only her second time) staying with the kids, so I figured a call from her was probably important, and possibly not good.
I quickly excused myself from the meeting and stepped into the hall as I answered the phone.
It wasn't the babysitter calling.
"Hi Mom. Can you stop and get Pepsi on your way home tonight? We're all out and I'm starving."
Do I laugh? Do I cry? Bang my head on the wall? Bang his head on the wall?
I told him to find something else to drink, that I couldn't talk right then, and that we'd talk more when I got home.
Yes, teaching him to call my cell phone is important. Teaching him when it's okay to call my cell phone is equally so. How do you teach good judgment?
Sydney's current favorite song... the one with the lyrics she usually screws up... keeps running through my head.
Here's my number,
so call me maybe.
Or maybe not.
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