Ahhh Teenage Boys.....

Vance came home from school yesterday and announced that he had lots of homework and organizing to do. I wasn't sure exactly what he meant by the organizing part, but didn't ask. He then went and turned on the TV........So, playing my mom role, "Vance, I thought you had lots of homework?" His answer, "Oh yeah, I do." He said it like he'd forgotten or something. I told him to turn off the TV, get a snack and then get to work. He went into the kitchen and came back 5 minutes later with 2 sandwiches and an apple.
I had to ask......"Is that your snack?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Because it looks more like dinner."

He worked for quite awhile on his homework and then I went upstairs to get some things. I came back about 15 minutes later and my entire table was covered with his papers, books, and trash from his backpack. I looked around in shock and asked, "what happened down here? Was I gone that long?" Vance looked at me, again in complete surprise, and said, "what?" Apparently he had just dumped his backpack out on the table and spread everything out to see what all was there. It looked like he'd been "collecting" things for the entire year. I was starting to understand the organizing statement now. I also wondered to myself if he had decided to organize himself or if maybe a teacher had suggested it.....

About 20 minutes later Vance came to me with a stack of papers, "these are for you". I was a little stunned, considering I ask Vance every day if he has papers for me and his answer is always "no". So, I chose not to say anything and started going through them. Just a few of the many papers were the form for his school pictures, which they took last Tuesday, an announcement for a dinner, which was held 2 weeks ago, a fundraiser reminder, which ended last Friday, and a reminder for his parent/teacher conference, which is today. It was also the first I'd heard of it.

I couldn't do anything but laugh. I went and gave Vance a big hug (because he's a teenage boy and I know it makes him cringe) and told him that I expect to get my paperwork every day, not just when he feels like organizing. He just wriggled out of my arms and mumbled, "ok, whatever". So, I kissed him on the cheek and made him squirm even more!