Spelling lesson

Yesterday, while driving, a car managed to cut me off not once, but twice. The driver then slowed down to 15 miles below the speed limit.

"What an idiot!" I yelled, forgetting that my impressionable young son was in the car.

"Yeah, he IS an idiot!" the young son agreed. "I-D-O-T!"

Now, I love an ironic situation as much as the next person, but I bit my tongue on this one. I really would be the meanest mom ever if I pointed out that only an I-D-O-T couldn't spell I-D-I-O-T!

"You tell him, Mark!" I said. "Except..."

"What?"

"You missed a letter in I-D-O-T. What letter makes an 'e' sound sometimes?" I asked.

He thought about it a moment, then said, "Oh, I meant I-D-E-O-T!"

I shook my head. "Makes an 'e' sound but is not an 'e.' What other vowel does that?"

He scrunched his face and guessed, "Um, a?"

"I-D-A-O-T?" I asked. And bit my tongue again.

"Oh, I mean 'i'!" he corrected. "I-D-I-O-T. That guy was an I-D-I-O-T!"

I was so proud of my good speller. "Yes, he was," I answered back. "Good job!"

It wasn't until 10 minutes later I realized I'd perhaps focused on the wrong lesson here. A good mom would've focused on driving etiquette (i.e., not yelling names at other drivers) instead of spelling.

So maybe I'm the real I-D-O-T here after all!