Beauty "Defined" by the Young Negotiator

A girl loves to be pampered, but often a pricetag comes with it. Despite my hope that my seven-year-old son, Joel, would agree to just playing with my hair for ten minutes in return for all I do for him, I knew negotiations were about to ensue. The child is a born businessman.

"Hey, Joel, would you like to style my hair?"
"For money?" he asked, bright-eyed.
"No, for pleasure," I said.
"For YOUR pleasure, you mean."
"Yes."
"How about for 20 cents?" he chimed.
"How about for nothing, nothing but love?"
"How about for 2 cents?" he persisted.
"Well...is your 20-cent hairstyle any different from your 2-cent one?"
"No," he admitted. "It just lasts longer."

I caved and signed up for the 20-center.

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A few minutes later, as he is brushing hair back behind my ears, smoothing it down
with his soft, nimble fingers:
"I'm making it look defined," he said.
"You're making me look divine?" (I pretended to misunderstand.)
"No, I said 'defined.' Simple yet elegant."

Where does he get this stuff?

"Wait! That Wouldn't be Good for Me!"

Sarah started at Towson U today in the education program. The class she had at noon is taught by a professor who tells corny jokes the whole time. Sarah said, "He's worse than you, actually, Mom. Seriously."

Joel piped up, "Mom should just break up with Dad and marry that guy!"

And then he paused, thought about it, and said, "Wait! No, never mind. Don't do that. That wouldn't be good for me!"

I'm a Scientist

Joel was trying over and over to get a cheap plastic Slinky to go down the carpeted steps. After watching his pereseverence mingled with sighs, I said, "Joel, I just don't think that's ever going to work."

He said, "I'm a scientist. I keep going."