Real kid of genius: how to evacuate an elementary school

It's seems a little unfair to gift Noah his first "genius" post. True, both David and I have earned a few, but this story just seems to fit the bill.

So... while I was in Minneapolis last week for my company's conference, I knew Noah was in good hands with Daddy. Those two are inseparable anyway, so I knew I would hardly be missed (now the depth of which mommy missed her men, however, was another story.)

I left my house at 3:10 a.m. on Tuesday morning after Labor Day and wearily survived a sleep-deprived Day 1 in Minnesota, full of planning meetings, registration bag stuffing and all the regular motions of conference prep.

When I checked in with David and Noah that afternoon, David opened the call with this line: Noah evacuated an elementary school today. WHAT?!

My first thought was actually, "What the heck was he doing in an elementary school?" Then, "How in the world did he do that?"

What I know is this: Noah was in his babysitter's son's school for a period time longer than one minute. Our babysitter turned her back for a moment... and then turned back around just in time to see him pull down on the fire alarm handle-button-thingy. At that point, the school—which had no way of knowing that their chalkboards and alphabet chains weren't burning to a crisp—promptly herded their children out the school doors.

I have no idea what happened after that, but I surely intend to ask Miss Ayse when I drop off Noah tomorrow morning.

My mom tells me the fire-alarm disease runs in the family. Apparently Matthew, my oldest nephew, pulled the alarm at our little church back home when he was a wee babe. But that time, no one thought the building was on fire.