Knowing Where Your Bread is Buttered

posted by Momo Fali on May 1, 2009

Yesterday at school, my son exhibited some peculiar behavior when he wouldn’t stop following the principal around. At one point, she came to the second grade classroom where I work to see if I could help, but once my son saw me coming, he turned and went straight to his class.

Later, during a school musical, he asked his teacher if he could sit with the principal and she obliged. As his class was being dismissed, I came out to the hall to see him tailing the poor woman once again. And to top it off, he was doing all of this in silence, like a mime, and we all know how much everybody loves a mime. Oh, wait…

All this? Is not because he has special needs. It is because he’s trying to be funny. When he first started playing the “Me and My Shadow” game, with my boss, I heard her laugh as he was silently standing before her and she asked, “What in the world are you doing?” That was all he needed. One little chuckle and that comic’s bread was slathered with butter.

I was trying to explain this to some parents at soccer practice last night. They both know my son, but neither of them had recognized that he does some strange stuff in an attempt to be funny.

A short time later we looked over to the field where my son was playing goalie during a scrimmage. There were 20 kids waiting for him to kick the ball out to the middle so play could resume. A typical kid would have seen an eager mob, jumping up and down and yelling, “Kick it! Kick the ball!” My son saw a captive audience.

Instead of kicking the ball to his teammates, he slowly walked around to the other side and kicked it into his own goal. The one he was supposed to be protecting.

I turned to the dad I had just been talking to and asked, “See? You see what I mean? He thinks he’s being funny.”

He replied, “Well…he kind of is.”

He might as well have pulled a butter knife out of his pocket.

    Comments

  • WeaselMomma


    Apple —–> tree.

  • A Buns Life


    He’s going to be rich someday….

  • surprised mom


    If we’re lucky, he’ll leave us all laughing one day as we watch him on the big stage.

  • Bean


    WeaselMomma’s comment made me laugh out loud. So true! Mo can turn a mundane situation into a hilarious story.

  • Lisa@verybusymomwith4


    I’ll say this again—I see very big things in this kid’s future 🙂

  • melissa


    hilarious!!!

  • Debbie


    I can so see this whole experience! You do have to be careful when you give them that encouragement.

  • Single Parent Dad


    V. Funny, that kid’s got character, I would have loved to have gone to school with him.

  • AlisonH


    Keep writing it down. He will be mortified when he’s a teenager, and you’ll have the goods on him. Heh. (Then wait till his 20’s and he’ll love being able to look back at his younger self through older eyes.)

    Meantime, hang in there. It’s not easy raising the class clown, although, it can sure be funny.

    One of mine still is, although not to that extent. I’m just waiting to see how he’s going to make law school funny in the fall when he starts.

  • Mom of Three


    Ok, I’m pretty sure Steve Martin’s mom has some similar stories. At least he’ll keep you entertained 😉

  • James


    He has a promising career as a comic. Not so much as a sports star with the scoring for the other team thing.

  • Tara R.


    He’s just building his repertoire of jokes. He will famous.

  • Kori


    I can relate; I know now how Jim Carrey’s mom felt: “Damn it, I know you think yo uare funny but stop with the damn voices!” So I laughed when I read this, but also felt the chagrin.

  • Melisa with one S


    If I were you, I’d start picking out the color schemes of the home he’s gonna be able to buy for you in a few years!

  • musingwoman


    Can’t wait to see him on the Late Show.

  • Rhea


    Oh, man, you’re totally in for it with that one.

  • Kylie


    I could have written this about my 6 year old lol! And if he asks if he was funny and I don’t respond appropriately then the tears roll.

  • the planet of janet


    he is IMPOSSIBLE.

    and impossibly hilarious.

  • Corey~living and loving


    my sugar likes to get the laugh too. ♥

  • Out-Numbered


    If Carrot Top can do it, he certainly can. 🙂

  • Rebecca Anne


    Many years from now when he is rich and famous, they will ask you, ,” Did you know your son was destined to be known by the whole of humanity?” And you will be able to reply, “Well, yes, I knew there was something about him from the time he was little.”
    Too funny!
    Rebecca

  • meleah rebeccah


    He’s KIND OF Funny? No. He is DEFINITELY funny.

  • Kim


    I so love your son.. he is flipping hysterical.

  • Jaina


    Lol. I love the way his mind works.

  • mrsmouthy


    That’s awesome! You should totally send him to school in a black and white striped shirt with black pants and suspenders!