Acacia & Barbecue

As I got ready to leave that morning to work the lunch room at school, I realized too late that I had put on perfume.

“Why do I waste perfume on these kids?” I asked myself out loud. “I’m going to the lunch room. They don’t appreciate the essence of French acacia wood.”

Oxbear just laughed at me.

Meanwhile, Puck announced that one of the tadpoles had graduated from the tadpole tank.

“He’s a frog now,” he explained. “Dad put him outside.”

Now if only his 49 brothers and sisters – and all the hatched mosquito larvae – would also join him.

As usual, it was taking Puck forever to adjust from pajamas to school uniform. Mostly because there were so many other more interesting distractions around him in the mornings. Like rough-housing on my bed with his little brother.

“Puck, you really need to get dress… why is Yali sitting on your head? Yali, get off of Puck’s head.”

A few minutes later, I caught Yali climbing on top of the headboard and then take a flying leap onto his brother. Profuse giggling. From both of them.

Another morning in the lunchroom. And I can guarantee any lingering scent of acacia wood on my person was quickly drowned out by the aroma of barbecue chicken wings and french fries.

And another grandma-playdate for Yali. This time with Gloria. When I walked through the front door just after 12:30, I received the usual greeting – a young man dressed as Spiderman flying across the room to me with a huge grin and a “MAMA! MAMA!”

Later on, I learned that the tadpole graduate I had been hopeful about that morning was still not fully baked.

“I put him back in,” Oxbear shrugged. “I was wrong. He wasn’t done yet.”

We are seriously going to be bullfrog-infested this winter.