Herpes

Sooo... we are studying communicable diseases. One of my kiddos stopped a conversation about AIDS today to ask, "Mrs. Furgison, what is HERPES?" OH.MY.GOSH. Crapola. We have been trained for this moment. We have practiced this moment. But IN that moment...? Um.... I ended up saying, "Excellent! Herpes IS a communicable disease but not one that we study in third grade. You will learn all about it as a fifth grader, though. For now, how about you go home and ask your parents?" To which one smarty pants replied, "Or you could google it!" Crap again. The very last thing I need is for a parent to call me irate because he or she caught their child perusing herpes photos. I hope I calmed the flame, but I think I did more damage and sparked further curisosity because I wouldn't talk about it. Couldn't talk about it, rather. If it were MY child, we would talk about STI's and yes, maybe even google pictures. You gotta go with the kid's natural interest and educate them. Third grade is obviously not too young to be aware of these things, or one of my precious charges would have never asked. But as a elementary teacher, I can't go into the sex stuff or even talk about semen as a bodily fluid. Oh well.

On another note: Duke peeded on someone's backpack at the dogpark today. That's my boy! I tried to put him in timeout but he kept running away as he had his ball in his mouth and didn't want me to take it. So I was double embarressed - first that he peed, second that he wouldn't obey. Finally I caught him and hissed in his ear, "Absolutely NOT OKAY. You are a very naughty boy to not use your listening ears." He sucked on his ball some more. I gave up.

Baby Name of the Day: Should we do another girl? Jason and I love To Kill a Mockingbird, so of course we love the name Harper. Not as traditional as we usually go, but Harper is unique but not too weird, right? Harper Kate Furgison. Kate as a middle name. Harper means "harp player." Again not keen on the meaning, but we ARE musical, so... Whadda you think?