How to tell it's time to go back to school...

I've taught Mark the proper way to answer a phone and how to leave a message. He's not always successful; earlier this summer when he called Tyler's house, Tyler's mom answered. Mark asked her to come over to play, and when she told Mark it was Tyler's mom, not Tyler, he sneered, "Yeah, right! Good one, Tyler!" I shrank into the corner and died a little bit from embarrassment.

So when Mark's friend Tyler called yesterday to see if Mark could come over to play, I listened to Tyler's voicemail with interest. (Because it's rude to say I'm trying to see how Mark rates along side his peers in the voicemail department.)

Tyler did great. He was polite, to the point, and even left a timestamp. Sorta.

"Hi Mark," he started. "It's Tyler. I'm calling to see if you can come over to play. It's Wednesday, 2010."

He paused. "Um, I don't know what day is it. I think it's the 8th. [It was the 25th.] Anyway, call me back."

I hung up the phone and giggled a bit. And realized Mark is right where he's supposed to be developmentally.