Exclamation Point

I am not a morning person. Still, on mornings when I drive my children to school, I need to be up at 6:00 AM and we need to be out the door at 7:00 AM.  It bites, especially in the winter when it is dark and cold.  Yesterday morning was particularly bad because I had had trouble sleeping the night before, so I took a single Tylenol PM.  At 6:00 AM, I was the walking dead.

We piled into the car at 7:00, and started driving to the kids' schools.  Nathan was in a good mood, as was Sara.  I hunched behind the wheel, their voices thundering in my ears.  Nathan's piping, pre-pubescent commentary on the upcoming day was seemingly at a frequency that normally only dogs can hear.  I could hear it, though.

"Whoo-hoo!  It's ice skating for gym today!  I love ice skating!  Mom, did I tell you about how I can do a cross-over, now?  I'm going to practice that again today!  Ice skating days are my favorite days!"

To me, this sounded like, "Whoo-hoo!  It's ice skating for gym today!  I love ice skating!  Mom, did I tell you about how I can do a cross-over, now?  I'm going to practice that again today!  Ice skating days are my favorite days!  

"Naaaaaaaate?  It's kind of early in the morning for me to share your enthusiasm.  It sounds like a lot of exclaiming to me."

"So, what do you want me to do, Mom?  Huh?  Just stop having enthusiasm?"

"No, of course not.  But maybe in the early mornings we could try something special, like..."

"Like what?"

"You could do it like this.  Just speak in a soft monotone and TELL me when there SHOULD be an exclamation point.  like, 'Woo. Hoo.  Exclamation point.  It's ice skating for gym today.  Exclamation point.  I love ice skating.  Exclamation point...'"