I Don't Mean To Be Critical
May 23, 2006
On Sunday we spent the afternoon with two of my former students and current friends, Kevin and Christina. It's always fun to watch our kids interacting with adults, and this time was no different. After lunch, Ben took Christina up to his room to show her his latest Lego creation. He was explaining to her some of the finer points of building cranes, when he paused and looked at her with a very serious look on his face.
"I don't mean to be critical," he said, "but I just farted."
Christina could barely contain her laughter.
We're not sure where he picked up that expression, but we think he meant to say "crude."
Comments (7)
Perhaps he was indirectly inviting a critique of his flatulence?
May 24, 2006 ; 11:44 AM
Now here's a glorious personification of another recent "word",
winsome.
May 24, 2006 ; 12:38 PM
How nice for Ben to have this immortalized on the web so that future employers and admirers can see his early cleverness in language!
May 24, 2006 ; 1:29 PM
Ginny, I really struggle over whether or not to make this sort of thing public by posting it on my blog. Future employers and admirers might appreciate the anecdote, but I wonder how Ben will feel about it when he's 15. I hope that he'll be able to see the humor in it, as well as the love in which it's framed.
May 24, 2006 ; 1:46 PM
Perhaps Ben is a perfectionist, and his non-verbal noises were signifying his own feelings about what he had created with Legos. You could say he's like the artist/genius who does not appreciate his own talent.
May 25, 2006 ; 6:43 PM
Just face it, he takes after his Uncle Dean! Karl, you really must keep these blog entries to hold over his head when he is 15, or to show his first girlfriend!
May 27, 2006 ; 11:44 PM
On the way home we had a debate as to what Ben was trying to say with the word "critical." Christina believes that he meant to say 'crude'. I think that perhaps Ben used 'I don't mean to be critical' because it is a phrase adults use to qualify their immediate next statement - a caveat if you will. Regardless of the intended use, it was hilarious. Your kids always know just what to say to make us laugh.
kevin
May 24, 2006 ; 9:59 AM