What are A, B, and C for?

    My blogging buddy, Septembermom, over at My Voice, My View, joined an “April A to Z” challenge where she posts a new blog entry every day in April, except Sunday. The topic for the first day is “A,” the second day is “B,” and so on. She looked like she was having so much fun that I became very jealous, irritable, and whiny until I noticed that right on her sidebar was an invitation to the party!  Like always, I arrived late for all the fun so I am making up for it by posting my A, B, and C entries all in one day. Click on the link on my sidebar if you want to avoid the jealous, irritable and whiny stage and head right for the buffet table.

    A is for Alex.  Alex is my nephew who is now a senior in college. He is the first child of my sister, Kelli.  Since toddlerhood, this child has been amazing. When he was under five years old, my sister found him with encyclopedias lined up on the floor, opened to various pages. When she asked him what he was doing, he said he was lining up the Canadian prime ministers, in order. At age five, he could identify the national flag of almost every country in the world. When he was a little older—oh, roughly around age seven—he could name all of the U.S. presidents in order, along with their vice presidents, and their political parties.  It was around that time that my sister called me one morning, to tell me that Alex was refusing to go to school.

    “Who is Benjamin Netanyahu?” she asked.

    “I think he’s the new Prime Minister of Israel. Why?”

    “Alex doesn’t want to go to school because he heard that one of the morning news shows is going to interview Benjamin Netanyahu and he doesn’t want to miss it.”

    Well then.

    He later got interviewed for a two-part TV evening news segment shortly before the 1996 election, in which he demonstrated his knowledge of the presidents. He got to show off the cast, from a previous broken arm, that was signed by Hillary Clinton. At a political meeting, young Alex got to ask Newt Gingrich a question. The audience, and Newt, was dumbfounded when Alex asked a question something along these lines: “Mr. Speaker, can you tell me if security measures have been stepped up in light of the recent embassy bombings in Africa?”
    Alex has grown into a delightful young man who loves old, old, movies and politics (hard to believe, eh?) He hosts a college sports program and is graduating from the University of Iowa with a degree in Political Science.

    One of the most amazing things about Alex, is that he attracts famous people. No matter where he goes, famous people line up to get a picture taken with him. 

                                                         

 Alex with Chuck Norris

Alex with John McEnroe
Photos lovingly stolen from Alex's Facebook account

    B is for black jelly beans. Ever since I was a baby Quangster, I have loved them. When I dug through my Easter baskets, I always saved the black beans for last and ate them all at once in a gluttonous feast. Last Friday, I played trivia games with my students, with the reward being 1 jelly bean per correct answer at the end of the game. I was secretly delighted when one by one they would tell me what color they wanted, with most of them saying something like, “I’ll take any color but black.”  By the end of the day, there were only black, and a few white, jelly beans left. A whole black jelly bean stash just for me, me, me!

    C is for Chunk.  My chunky little grandson turned two today. He is a master charmer who no matter how much chaos he causes will steal your heart.  When he comes to visit, he loves to feign indifference, all the while checking to make sure he is being watched. He’ll walk away, but turn his head around and smile deviously. He is known for his messes, whether it is a pitcher of orange juice knocked on the floor, a set of muddy footprints tracked across his mother’s bed, toothpaste squeezed out all over the floor, or cereal crunched under chubby toddler feet. We love our little Chunk and are grateful for the past two years of joy that he has given to us.

 Photo Credit: Candice the Cool

What about you? Are you up for the A to Z challenge?