Rakes. Being Rakes.

Rakes has always been a bit, well, eccentric. From his unruly cow lick to his propensity to stammer whenever he gets excited (which is around 93% of the time according to the scientific study I did with a hand timer and some tooth picks) to his innate ability to spot B.S. from a mile away.

He's also a tad messy. So not only does he look just like me, have the same little mannerisms as me (crossing his feet watching tv, twirling his fingers even when the rest of him is at complete rest, and he's gonna be lucky if he reaches 5 ft 6 inches in height), he's also cursed with my tendency to be disorganized.

I hate clutter. Always have. Nothing hanging out of a drawer, or laying on the floor, and absolutely no dishes in the sink when I go to bed. However, don't open a closet door without wearing a crash helmet, don't think you can close my drawers on the dresser without standing on it first, and for the love of all that is holy, don't open my glove box 'cause if you do? It'll take a jackhammer, a crow bar, and some WD 40 to get it closed again.

Apparently my first born son has inherited more than my quick smile, small stature, and loud voice. The following is an email conversation between Ang and his teacher, after it was brought to our attention Rakes was having some difficulty keeping his desk area clean.

Ms. *****,
Did Rakes do well with keeping his desk neat? Please let me know if you had any problems. We are working on a week by week reward from now to the end.

Thanks,
Angie Dalton

Today he had all of his new pencils left on the floor and glue stick and a crayon or two left on the floor. I noticed this after school. Usually I notice before we leave and he will pick them up. I also noticed the new black bag you bought for him was empty laying on another child's desk. I also put in his book bag the red piece that goes into his shorts to make them smaller. He pulled it out on Friday and could hardly keep his shorts up. I just looked at his desk and all his crayons are out of the box and sitting inside on the edge of his desk ready to fall out. I'm sorry to write so much for one day

Thanks,

Mrs. *****

I know I shouldn't have, but I laughed until I cried when I read it.

Best part? He pulled the elastic out of his shorts. When I asked him why?

"It was itching me, Dad."

I gotta write a book.