Pretend Golf and Adverbs

Summer is finally in full gear!

... and the Boy and I are inside, down in the basement (where it's cooler), rediscovering the addiction that is Sony Playstation. Lately we've been into playing Hot Shots Golf 3 ... it's summer after all. The Boy is getting incrementally better but keeps asking me to win tournaments for him. I'm trying to let him find out how much better it feels to win things for yourself, but he keeps pressuring me to play a tournament. I compromise by playing in "Versus" mode, where you are set up against a computer player for match play. If you beat him (or her), you unlock the player and can use her (or him) the next time you play in a tournament. The players get progressively better. So the more players you win, the farther you can hit the ball and the better chance you have of winning a tournament.

So I recently won the player called "Toni", a sixty-ish looking Mafioso type in a black suit and red tie. He speaks with a weird accent that the Boy has a hard time understanding. For example, when Toni makes a birdie he declares, "One above the rest!", one of a few Toni phrases that the Boy has yet to interpret.

Yesterday we were setting up to play a tournament (I was there only to "caddy") and the Boy selects Toni as his player.

Toni (ominous grumble): You chose wisely.

Boy (turns to look at me): His name is "Wisely"?

Prefered Vehicles of Soccer Moms.

Boy: Daddy, I want us to get a van.

Me: Why?

Boy: Because you can have a person in the back and another person in the back and two people in the front.

Me: But we have that now in our car.

Boy: No I want to get a van. They're more fun. And what if we have more people?

Me: Well, I don't have enough money for a van. And it wouldn't fit in the driveway with Mamma's car.

Boy: What about a jeep?

Me: Same thing. Too expensive, not enough room.

Boy: What about a car?

Me: I have a car. This one. I like my car.

Boy: But I want us to get a van.

Me: Well I told you. Daddy doesn't have enough money to buy a new van.

Boy: We could have a yard sale...?

The Favour

Our city hosted the Canadian Women's Open this past week. I volunteered as part of the team and ended up being a walking scorer all week. With Mamma working for most of the weekend, the Boy spent Friday and Saturday night with his grandparents in the Annapolis Valley.  It's not his first sleepover and he was doing very good until Saturday evening when I called to see how his day was, tell him goodnight and I love you.

Boy: Daddy, are you sad?

Me: A little bit, because I miss you.

Boy: Can I do you a favour?

Me: What's that?

Boy: You go into my room and get one of my grr-animals (stuffed toys), either Teddy or Pierre, and you can sleep with them and then it will feel like you're sleeping next to me.