AJ had a sinking spell yesterday evening, which we thought was due to the heat and the fact that we stayed a little too long at his friend�s house in the afternoon and that he didn�t take a nap. When he got up this morning, he was raring to go. He came into my room to wake me up with a dictionary in his hand.

�Mommy, I found the population of California in my dictionary!�
�Mmph. That�s great, AJ. What is it?�
�I can�t read the number. Can you tell me?�

I fumbled around for my glasses on my nightstand, turned on the light and helped him parse out the ten digit number. He made me write it down for him in words, so he wouldn�t forget how to read it. Then he ran to tell his dad how many people live in the state of California.

�And it�s okay that California has more people than Alaska even though Alaska�s bigger because Alaska�s really cold.�

The rest of the morning before camp was spent in a numerical frenzy. He read all the temperatures off the weather table in the newspaper, noting with amazement that it was going to be 7 degrees hotter here than where his uncle lives in Thailand. He then went upstairs and shuffled through his number flashcards to find numbers for all the White Sox players that he knows so he could arrange them in numerical order on his bedroom floor. When last I checked, it ranged from Juan Uribe (5) to Mark Buerhle (56).

Then I went to teach at the pool and AJ went to summer camp. Shortly after I got home and showered, the phone rang. His teacher was on the line saying that AJ wasn�t feeling well. In three years of preschool, AJ has never once asked to come home early, so I grabbed his blankie, hopped in the car and drove to pick him up. He was sitting at a table with his teacher. The rest of the kids were running around and working on projects. AJ was spelling his name (first and last) with letter blocks. He looked pale.

I brought him home and he lay on the couch for a while drinking Gatorade and occasionally spooning yogurt into his mouth while watching TV. He then decided he was too tired and went upstairs to bed where I read him some more Calvin and Hobbes as he closed his eyes.

Poor AJ. We had planned to go into the city to see Cristina Branco sing in Grant Park this evening, but now it looks like we�ll be staying home. Perhaps it�s just as well � they�re forecasting thunderstorms for this evening. Moreover, Miss Fairlywell, who was hoping to meet us there, can�t make it either. So despite the fact that I�ve been looking forward to this concert all summer, I think I�m going to have to let it go.

I think I�m going to go download one of Branco�s albums, which is actually about the cost of round trip train fare to the city, as my consolation prize. When AJ�s feeling better, maybe I�ll play it for him. But then I�d better be prepared to explain Portuguese.

3 people said it like they meant it