12 Cookies (a poem by B. Johanson)

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My goodness, I got a huge laugh today.

I have a third grader who keeps things interesting around here. He has a big talent for making me laugh and today was no exception.

The whole saga started as super sweet before it took a turn to funny-land. I got a sweet text from his teacher. (She is the perfect teacher for him – he is thriving in her class. Pretty sure all the kids in her class are thriving because that’s how good she is!)

Another boy in the class brought cupcakes for his birthday. This happens a lot and often means B has to watch everyone else eat a treat because we found out in the fall that he is very allergic to gluten. That’s okay with us. B takes it in stride and he gets plenty of treats at home.

But, today, the boy (and I’m sure his mom) was so nice to bring B his own special gluten-free treat. It made him so happy that his teacher sent me a text to share his happiness.

Of course it made my day!! BUT … the followup hilarious-ness to come was even better.

A little bit later, I got a text from her. He ate all 12 cookies that came in the box. Uh-oh. I replied wishing her luck with him in the afternoon, lol. But then she called a few minutes later because the 12 cookies gave him a bad tummy ache. He stayed at school and worked through the tummy ache, which resulted in this amazing poem during writing time …

12 Cookies

“I ate 12 cookies
I ate them today
these cookies are great
I say but you can’t eat
all of them the teacher
said these cookies are sweet
and sugary these cookies
are too much of a treat
you’ll feel something
your stomach can’t beat

you’ll feel sick
you will be filled with ick
you will always fear
the sickness that’s near
you will feel bad
you will really be sad
you’ll probably visit the nurse
probably in a hurse
but the running will feel bad
so you will be more sad”

Poem by B. Johanson

The teacher texted me pictures of his poem as an update to his cookie-tummy-saga. I slightly edited it above to make it readable to everyone. We found out later he thought “hurse” meant “to hurry really fast.” That line of the poem was my favorite and it was by accident! (I thought he meant hearse.)

When he got home today, he and I laughed together so hard about his day and his poem. I know him well enough to know he wrote the poem to be funny and I was right. And he loved making me laugh so we had to read it to both grandparents after school and the whole family at the dinner table later. And, I had to share it with you tonight as well.

Kids need to feel natural consequences of bad decisions so they learn on their own about what behaviors to avoid. I wish all lessons were as simple as a 1-hour tummy ache and included poems to go along.

ps – yes, I know he needs a haircut. 😂