Dictation

Last Friday Talmage came home from school early with an earache that ceased to bother him the moment he crossed the threshold. From now on I'm taking Motrin to school and sending him back to class. But anyway, he and Jack started in on a craft, which involved sticking Christmas-themed foam shapes onto a foam sheet. This kept them thoroughly engrossed for a good hour. When the masterpieces were complete Talmage offerred to write Jack's name on Jack's project. So Jack spelled his name out for Tal, letter by letter and Tal wrote it on Jack's project. This tickled me no end. First it's hilarious that Talmage, age 8, could not be bothered to waste brain cells on figuring out how to spell Jack's name. But it's also so exciting that he'd volunteer to write anything, as writing is right next to waterboarding as far as Talmage's favorite things to do. And it's so sweet that he'd want to help out his little brother like that. The other hilarious thing is that Jack can totally write his own name, but he seemed totally jazzed that his big brother was helping him out. And he seemed so proud that he could coach his big brother on how to spell his name. The whole exchange made my week.